fleeting
adjective

- short or quick

Cambridge Dictionary

fleeting memory
noun phrase

- Memories that pass briefly, and over time become vague recollections

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WORD ORIGIN

Circa 1225, "fleeting" derives from the Old English fleotende, meaning to float or drift. It was later used in the sense of flying or moving swiftly. Thus a fleeting memory is one that passes quickly by.

The root word fleotan meant to float and derived from the noun fleot, Old English for a ship or floating vessel. Fleot also meant creek, inlet, flow of water.

London’s Fleet Street, which is home to many newspaper and magazine houses and which has been synonymous with the English press since the late 1800s, got its name from the Fleet River that joins the Thames River near Ludgate Hill. This area was also home to many infamous prisons, some of which dated back as far as the 11th century and included Newgate, Ludgate and Fleet prisons.

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A FLEETING GLIMPSE

...
When I was a child
I caught a FLEETING glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb

Roger Waters / David Gilmour - Pink Floyd (The Wall)

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SYNONYMS

brief, transient, momentary, sudden, cursory, transient, transitory, ephemeral, evanescent, fading, gone in flash, vanishing, flitting, flying, fly-by-night, passing, FLEETING, , temporary, swift, impermanent, meteoric, short-lived, short and sharp, short and sweet, here today and gone tomorrow, gone in a heartbeat, in the wink of an eye

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“I don’t remember much about that meeting. It’s just A FLEETING MEMORY.”

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THANKS to Martin for suggesting today’s word

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HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-

Paul Smith