Flea-bite noun
1. The bite of a flea, or the red spot caused by the bite.

2. A trifling wound or pain, like that of the bite of a flea. Harvey.

Flea-bitten adjective
1. Bitten by a flea; as, a flea-bitten face.

2. White, flecked with minute dots of bay or sorrel; -- said of the color of a horse.

Flea-louse noun (Zoology) A jumping plant louse of the family Psyllidæ , of many species. That of the pear tree is Psylla pyri .

Fleagh (flē), obsolete imperfect of Fly .

Fleak (flēk) noun A flake; a thread or twist. [ Obsolete]

Little long fleaks or threads of hemp.

Dr. H. More.

Fleaking noun A light covering of reeds, over which the main covering is laid, in thatching houses. [ Prov. Eng.] Wright.

Fleam noun [ French flamme , Old French flieme , from Late Latin flevotomum , phlebotomum ; confer Dutch vlijm . See Phlebotomy .] (Surg. & Far.) A sharp instrument used for opening veins, lancing gums, etc.; a kind of lancet.

Fleam tooth , a tooth of a saw shaped like an isosceles triangle; a peg tooth. Knight.

Fleamy adjective Bloody; clotted. [ Obsolete or Prov.]

Foamy bubbling of a fleamy brain.

Marston.

Flear transitive verb & i. See Fleer .

Fleawort noun (Botany) An herb used in medicine ( Plantago Psyllium ), named from the shape of its seeds. Loudon.

Flèche noun [ French flèche , prop., an arrow.] (Fort.) A simple fieldwork, consisting of two faces forming a salient angle pointing outward and open at the gorge.

Fleck (flĕk) noun A flake; also, a lock, as of wool. [ Obsolete] J. Martin.

Fleck noun [ Confer Icelandic flekkr ; akin to Swedish fläck , Dutch vlek , German fleck , and perhaps to English flitch .] A spot; a streak; a speckle. "A sunny fleck ." Longfellow.

Life is dashed with flecks of sin.

tennyson.

Fleck transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Flecked ; present participle & verbal noun Flecking .] [ Confer Icelandic flekka , Swedish fläcka , Dutch vlekken , vlakken , German flecken . See Fleck , noun ] To spot; to streak or stripe; to variegate; to dapple.

Both flecked with white, the true Arcadian strain.

Dryden.

A bird, a cloud, flecking the sunny air.

Trench.

Flecker transitive verb To fleck. Johnson.

Fleckless adjective Without spot or blame. [ R.]

My consnience will not count me fleckless .

Tennyson.

Flection noun [ See Flexion .]
1. The act of bending, or state of being bent.

2. The variation of words by declension, comparison, or conjugation; inflection.

Flectional adjective Capable of, or pertaining to, flection or inflection.

A flectional word is a phrase in the bud.

Earle.

Flector noun A flexor.

Fled imperfect & past participle of Flee .

Fledge adjective [ Middle English flegge , flygge ; akin to Dutch vlug , German flügge , flücke , Old High German flucchi , Icelandic fleygr , and to English fly . √84. See Fly , intransitive verb ] Feathered; furnished with feathers or wings; able to fly.

His shoulders, fledge with wings.

Milton.

Fledge transitive verb & i. [ imperfect & past participle Fledged ; present participle & verbal noun Fledging .]
1. To furnish with feathers; to supply with the feathers necessary for flight.

The birds were not as yet fledged enough to shift for themselves.

L'Estrange.

2. To furnish or adorn with any soft covering.

Your master, whose chin is not yet fledged .

Shak.

Fledgeling noun A young bird just fledged.

Flee (flē) intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fled (flĕd); present participle & verbal noun Fleeing .] [ Middle English fleon , fleen , Anglo-Saxon fleón ( imperf . fleáh ); akin to Dutch vlieden , Old High German & Old Saxon fliohan , German fliehen , Icelandic flȳja (imperf. flȳði ), Danish flye , Swedish fly (imperf. flydde ), Goth. þliuhan . √84. Confer Flight .] To run away, as from danger or evil; to avoid in an alarmed or cowardly manner; to hasten off; -- usually with from . This is sometimes omitted, making the verb transitive.

[ He] cowardly fled , not having struck one stroke.

Shak.

Flee fornication.

1 Cor. vi. 18.

So fled his enemies my warlike father.

Shak.

» When great speed is to be indicated, we commonly use fly , not flee ; as, fly hence to France with the utmost speed. "Whither shall I fly to 'scape their hands?" Shak. See Fly , intransitive verb , 5.

Fleece (flēs) noun [ Middle English flees , Anglo-Saxon fleós ; akin to Dutch flies , vlies .]
1. The entire coat of wool that covers a sheep or other similar animal; also, the quantity shorn from a sheep, or animal, at one time.

Who shore me
Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece .

Milton.

2. Any soft woolly covering resembling a fleece.

3. (Manuf.) The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine.

Fleece wool , wool shorn from the sheep. -- Golden fleece . See under Golden .

Fleece transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fleeced ; present participle & verbal noun Fleecing .]
1. To deprive of a fleece, or natural covering of wool.

2. To strip of money or other property unjustly, especially by trickery or fraud; to bring to straits by oppressions and exactions.

Whilst pope and prince shared the wool betwixt them, the people were finely fleeced .

Fuller.

3. To spread over as with wool. [ R.] Thomson.

Fleeced adjective
1. Furnished with a fleece; as, a sheep is well fleeced . Spenser.

2. Stripped of a fleece; plundered; robbed.

Fleeceless adjective Without a fleece.

Fleecer noun One who fleeces or strips unjustly, especially by trickery or fraund. Prynne.

Fleecy adjective Covered with, made of, or resembling, a fleece. " Fleecy flocks." Prior.

Fleen noun plural Obsolete plural of Flea . Chaucer.

Fleer noun One who flees. Ld. Berners.

Fleer [ imperfect & past participle Fleered ; present participle & verbal noun Fleering .] [ Middle English flerien ; confer Scot. fleyr , Norw. flira to titter, giggle, laugh at nothing, Middle High German vlerre , vlarre , a wide wound.]
1. To make a wry face in contempt, or to grin in scorn; to deride; to sneer; to mock; to gibe; as, to fleer and flout.

To fleer and scorn at our solemnity.

Shak.

2. To grin with an air of civility; to leer. [ Obsolete]

Grinning and fleering as though they went to a bear baiting.

Latimer.

Fleer transitive verb To mock; to flout at. Beau. & Fl.

Fleer noun
1. A word or look of derision or mockery.

And mark the fleers , the gibes, and notable scorn.

Shak.

2. A grin of civility; a leer. [ Obsolete]

A sly, treacherous fleer on the face of deceivers.

South.

Fleerer noun One who fleers. Beau. & Fl.

Fleeringly adverb In a fleering manner.

Fleet intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fleeted ; present participle & verbal noun Fleeting .] [ Middle English fleten , fleoten , to swim, Anglo-Saxon fleótan to swim, float; akin to Dutch vlieten to flow, Old Saxon fliotan , Old High German fliozzan , German fliessen , Icelandic fljōta to float, flow, Swedish flyta , Dutch flyde , Latin pluere to rain, Greek ... to sail, swim, float, Sanskrit plu to swim, sail. √84. Confer Fleet , noun & adjective , Float , Pluvial , Flow .]
1. To sail; to float. [ Obsolete]

And in frail wood on Adrian Gulf doth fleet .

Spenser.

2. To fly swiftly; to pass over quickly; to hasten; to flit as a light substance.

All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, . . .
Dissolved on earth, fleet hither.

Milton.

3. (Nautical) To slip on the whelps or the barrel of a capstan or windlass; -- said of a cable or hawser.

Fleet transitive verb
1. To pass over rapidly; to skin the surface of; as, a ship that fleets the gulf. Spenser.

2. To hasten over; to cause to pass away lighty, or in mirth and joy.

Many young gentlemen flock to him, and fleet the time carelessly.

Shak.

3. (Nautical) (a) To draw apart the blocks of; -- said of a tackle. Totten.

(b) To cause to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass, as a rope or chain.

Fleet adjective [ Compar. Fleeter ; superl. Fleetest .] [ Confer Icelandic flj...tr quick. See Fleet , intransitive verb ]
1. Swift in motion; moving with velocity; light and quick in going from place to place; nimble.

In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong.

Milton.

2. Light; superficially thin; not penetrating deep, as soil. [ Prov. Eng.] Mortimer.

Fleet noun [ Middle English flete , fleote , Anglo-Saxon fleót ship, from fleótan to float, swim. See Fleet , intransitive verb and confer Float .] A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.

Fleet captain , the senior aid of the admiral of a fleet, when a captain. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Fleet noun [ Anglo-Saxon fleót a place where vessels float, bay, river; akin to Dutch vliet rill, brook, German fliess . See Fleet , intransitive verb ]
1. A flood; a creek or inlet; a bay or estuary; a river; -- obsolete, except as a place name, -- as Fleet Street in London.

Together wove we nets to entrap the fish
In floods and sedgy fleets .

Matthewes.

2. A former prison in London, which originally stood near a stream, the Fleet (now filled up).

Fleet parson , a clergyman of low character, in, or in the vicinity of, the Fleet prison, who was ready to unite persons in marriage (called Fleet marriage ) at any hour, without public notice, witnesses, or consent of parents.

Fleet transitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon flēt cream, from fleótan to float. See Fleet , intransitive verb ] To take the cream from; to skim. [ Prov. Eng.] Johnson.

Fleet intransitive verb (Nautical) To move or change in position; -- said of persons; as, the crew fleeted aft.

Fleet transitive verb (Nautical) To move or change in position; used only in special phrases; as, of fleet aft the crew.

We got the long "stick" . . . down and " fleeted " aft, where it was secured.

F. T. Bullen.

Fleet-foot adjective Swift of foot. Shak.

Fleeten noun Fleeted or skimmed milk. [ Obsolete]

Fleeten face , a face of the color of fleeten, i. e. , blanched; hence, a coward. "You know where you are, you fleeten face ." Beau. & Fl.

Fleeting adjective Passing swiftly away; not durable; transient; transitory; as, the fleeting hours or moments.

Syn. -- Evanescent; ephemeral. See Transient .

Fleetingly adverb In a fleeting manner; swiftly.

Fleetings noun plural A mixture of buttermilk and boiling whey; curds. [ prov. Eng.] Wright.