flea
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: fleá
Etymology 1
From Middle English fle, from Old English flēah, flēa, from Proto-West Germanic *flauh, from Proto-Germanic *flauhaz (compare West Frisian flie, Low German Flo, Flö, Dutch vlo, German Floh, Icelandic fló), from pre-Germanic *plóukos, *plówkos, from or akin to Proto-Indo-European *plúsis (compare Latin pulex, Sanskrit प्लुषि (plúṣi)).
The archaic plural fleen is from Middle English fleen, flen, from Old English flēan (“fleas”).
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -iː
- Homophones: flee
Noun
flea (plural fleas or (archaic or UK dialectal) fleen)
- A small, wingless, parasitic insect of the order Siphonaptera, renowned for its bloodsucking habits and jumping abilities.
- (derogatory) A thing of no significance.
- 1871, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, The Heart of the Continent, page 414:
- The nation of beggars on horseback which first colonized California has left behind it many traditions unworthy of conservation, and multitudinous fleas not at all traditional, but even less keepworthy […]
Derived terms
- beach flea
- chigoe flea
- deflea
- dog-flea model
- duck flea
- eight-spotted flea beetle
- fit as a flea
- flea allergy
- flea-bag
- fleabag
- flea beetle
- flea-bitten
- flea bomb
- flea-brained
- flea circus
- flea collar
- flea comb
- flea flicker
- flea in one's ear
- flealike
- flea-louse
- flea market
- fleapit
- flea-powder
- flea powder
- flea-ridden
- flea shampoo
- flea tree
- hop flea
- house flea
- human flea
- leaf flea
- sand flea
- snow flea
- water flea
Translations
parasitic insect
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Verb
flea (third-person singular simple present fleas, present participle fleaing, simple past and past participle fleaed)
- (transitive) To remove fleas from (an animal).
- Synonym: deflea
- 1861, Horace William Wheelwright, Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist, page 192:
- I have seen a Lubra, or native woman, suckling two puppies; and, like monkeys, these ladies have a particular fancy for fleaing their dogs.
Etymology 2
Alternative forms.
Verb
flea (third-person singular simple present fleas, present participle fleaing, simple past and past participle flead)
- Obsolete spelling of flay.
- 1605, Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, Everyman's Library, published 1991, page 36:
- […] he'd flea me alive like another St Bartholomew.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
- In this Thwackum had the advantage; for while Square could only scarify the poor lad's reputation, he could flea his skin […]
Anagrams
Noun
flēa m
- Alternative form of flēah
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