American Heritage

n.
A fast, lightly armed warship, smaller than a destroyer, often armed for antisubmarine operations.
An obsolete sailing warship, smaller than a frigate, usually armed with one tier of guns.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[French, a kind of warship, probably from Middle Dutch corf, basket, small ship. See corf.]
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
[Buy it]
Corvette
Corvet \Cor"vet\ (k?r"v?t), Corvette \Cor*vette"\ (k?r-v?r"), n. [F. corvette, fr. Pg. corveta or Sp. corbeta, fr. L. corbita a slow-sailing ship of burden, fr, corbis basket. Cf. Corbeil.] (Naut.) A war vessel, ranking next below a frigate, and having usually only one tier of guns; -- called in the United States navy a sloop of war.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Corvette
n : a highly maneuverable escort ship; smaller than a destroyer
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
It's part of our Heritage.


