/kawr vet"/ , n.
1. a warship of the old sailing class, having a flush deck and usually one tier of guns.
2. a lightly armed, fast ship used mostly for convoy escort and ranging in size between a destroyer and a gunboat.
Also, corvet /kawr vet", kawr"vet/ .
[ 1630-40; corver pursuit boat (deriv. of corf fishing boat, lit., basket), with suffix altered to -ette -ETTE ]