Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
Nearby Entries
flesh - 9 dictionary results

flesh

  [flesh]
Use flesh in a Sentence
–noun
1. the soft substance of a human or other animal body, consisting of muscle and fat.
2. muscular and fatty tissue.
3. this substance or tissue in animals, viewed as an article of food, usually excluding fish and sometimes fowl; meat.
4. fatness; weight.
5. the body, esp. as distinguished from the spirit or soul: The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
6. the physical or animal nature of humankind as distinguished from its moral or spiritual nature: the needs of the flesh.
7. humankind.
8. living creatures generally.
9. a person's family or relatives.
10. Botany. the soft, pulpy portion of a fruit, vegetable, etc., as distinguished from the core, skin, shell, etc.
11. the surface of the human body; skin: A person with tender flesh should not expose it to direct sunlight.
12. flesh color.
–verb (used with object)
13. to plunge (a weapon) into the flesh.
14. Hunting. to feed (a hound or hawk) with flesh in order to make it more eager for the chase. Compare blood (def. 16).
15. to incite and accustom (persons) to bloodshed or battle by an initial experience.
16. to inflame the ardor or passions of by a foretaste.
17. to overlay or cover (a skeleton or skeletal frame) with flesh or with a fleshlike substance.
18. to give dimension, substance, or reality to (often fol. by out): The playwright fleshed out the characters.
19. to remove adhering flesh from (hides), in leather manufacture.
20. Archaic. to satiate with flesh or fleshly enjoyments; surfeit; glut.
—Idioms
21. in the flesh, present and alive before one's eyes; in person: The movie star looked quite different in the flesh.
22. pound of flesh, something that strict justice demands is due, but can only be paid with great loss or suffering to the payer.
23. press the flesh, Informal. to shake hands, as with voters while campaigning: The senator is busy as ever pressing the flesh on the campaign trail.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME flesc, OE flǣsc; c. OFris flēsk, OHG fleisk (G Fleisch), ON flesk bacon

Related forms:
fleshless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To flesh
flesh   (flěsh)   
n.  
    1. The soft tissue of the body of a vertebrate, covering the bones and consisting mainly of skeletal muscle and fat.
    2. The surface or skin of the human body.
    3. The body as opposed to the mind or soul.
    4. The physical or carnal nature of humankind.
    5. Sensual appetites.
  2. The meat of animals as distinguished from the edible tissue of fish or fowl.
  3. Botany The pulpy, usually edible part of a fruit or vegetable.
  4. Excess fatty tissue; plumpness.
    1. The body as opposed to the mind or soul.
    2. The physical or carnal nature of humankind.
    3. Sensual appetites.
  6. Humankind in general; humanity.
  7. One's family; kin.
  8. Substance; reality: "The maritime strategy has an all but unstoppable institutional momentum behind it . . . that has given force and flesh to the theory" (Jack Beatty).
v.   fleshed, flesh·ing, flesh·es

v.   tr.
  1. To give substance or detail to; fill out: fleshed out the novel with a subplot.
  2. To clean (a hide) of adhering flesh.
  3. To encourage (a falcon, for example) to participate in the chase by feeding it flesh from a kill.
  4. To inure to battle or bloodshed.
  5. To plunge or thrust (a weapon) into flesh.
v.   intr.
To become plump or fleshy; gain weight.

[Middle English, from Old English flǣsc.]
flesh'less adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Flesh

Flesh\, n. [OE. flesch, flesc, AS. fl?sc; akin to OFries. fl[=a]sk, D. vleesch, OS. fl?sk, OHG. fleisc, G. fleisch, Icel. & Dan. flesk lard, bacon, pork, Sw. fl["a]sk.]

1. The aggregate of the muscles, fat, and other tissues which cover the framework of bones in man and other animals; especially, the muscles.

Note: In composition it is mainly albuminous , but contains in adition a large number of crystalline bodies, such as creatin, xanthin, hypoxanthin, carnin, etc. It is also rich in phosphate of potash.

2. Animal food, in distinction from vegetable; meat; especially, the body of beasts and birds used as food, as distinguished from fish.

With roasted flesh, or milk, and wastel bread. --Chaucer.

3. The human body, as distinguished from the soul; the corporeal person.

As if this flesh, which walls about our life, Were brass impregnable. --Shak.

4. The human eace; mankind; humanity.

All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. --Gen. vi. 12.

5. Human nature: (a) In a good sense, tenderness of feeling; gentleness.

There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart. --Cowper. (b) In a bad sense, tendency to transient or physical pleasure; desire for sensual gratification; carnality. (c) (Theol.) The character under the influence of animal propensities or selfish passions; the soul unmoved by spiritual influences.

6. Kindred; stock; race.

He is our brother and our flesh. --Gen. xxxvii. 27.

7. The soft, pulpy substance of fruit; also, that part of a root, fruit, and the like, which is fit to be eaten.

Note: Flesh is often used adjectively or self-explaining compounds; as, flesh broth or flesh-broth; flesh brush or fleshbrush; flesh tint or flesh-tint; flesh wound.

After the flesh, after the manner of man; in a gross or earthly manner. "Ye judge after the flesh." --John viii. 15.

An arm of flesh, human strength or aid.

Flesh and blood. See under Blood.

Flesh broth, broth made by boiling flesh in water.

Flesh fly (Zo["o]l.), one of several species of flies whose larv[ae] or maggots feed upon flesh, as the bluebottle fly; -- called also meat fly, carrion fly, and blowfly. See Blowly.

Flesh meat, animal food. --Swift.

Flesh side, the side of a skin or hide which was next to the flesh; -- opposed to grain side.

Flesh tint (Painting), a color used in painting to imitate the hue of the living body.

Flesh worm (Zo["o]l.), any insect larva of a flesh fly. See Flesh fly (above).

Proud flesh. See under Proud.

To be one flesh, to be closely united as in marriage; to become as one person. --Gen. ii. 24.

Flesh

Flesh\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fleshed; p. pr. & vb. n. Fleshing.]

1. To feed with flesh, as an incitement to further exertion; to initiate; -- from the practice of training hawks and dogs by feeding them with the first game they take, or other flesh. Hence, to use upon flesh (as a murderous weapon) so as to draw blood, especially for the first time.

Full bravely hast thou fleshed Thy maiden sword. --Shak.

The wild dog Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent. --Shak.

2. To glut; to satiate; hence, to harden, to accustom. "Fleshed in triumphs." --Glanvill.

Old soldiers Fleshed in the spoils of Germany and France. --Beau. & Fl.

3. (Leather Manufacture) To remove flesh, membrance, etc., from, as from hides.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : flesh
Spanish: carne,
German: das Fleisch,
Japanese: 肉
More Translations »

flesh 
O.E. flæsc "flesh, meat," also "near kindred" (a sense now obsolete except in phrase flesh and blood), common W. and N.Gmc. (cf. O.Fris. flesk, M.L.G. vlees, Ger. Fleisch "flesh," O.N. flesk "pork, bacon"), of unknown origin, perhaps from P.Gmc. *flaiskoz-. Figurative use for "animal or physical nature of man" (O.E.), is from the Bible, especially Paul's use of Gk. sarx, which yielded sense of "sensual appetites" (c.1200). Fleshpot is lit. "pot in which flesh is boiled," hence "luxuries regarded with envy," especially in fleshpots of Egypt, from Exodus xvi.3:
"Whan we sat by ye Flesh pottes, and had bred ynough to eate." [Coverdale translation, 1535]
Flesh-wound is from 1674; flesh-color, the hue of "Caucasian" skin, is first recorded 1611, described as a tint composed of "a light pink with a little yellow" [O'Neill, "Dyeing," 1862]. Fleshy "plump" is from c.1369. An O.E. poetry-word for "body" was flæsc-hama, lit. "flesh-home."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

Main Entry: flesh
Pronunciation: 'flesh
Function: noun
: the soft parts of the body of an animal and especially of a vertebrate; especially : the parts composed chiefly of skeletal muscle as distinguished from visceral structures, bone, and integuments —see GOOSEBUMPS, PROUD FLESH —fleshed /'flesht/ adjective
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source

flesh (flěsh)
n.
The soft tissue of the body of a vertebrate, covering the bones and consisting mainly of skeletal muscle and fat.

flesh'y adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source

Flesh

in the Old Testament denotes (1) a particular part of the body of man and animals (Gen. 2:21; 41:2; Ps. 102:5, marg.); (2) the whole body (Ps. 16:9); (3) all living things having flesh, and particularly humanity as a whole (Gen. 6:12, 13); (4) mutability and weakness (2 Chr. 32:8; comp. Isa. 31:3; Ps. 78:39). As suggesting the idea of softness it is used in the expression "heart of flesh" (Ezek. 11:19). The expression "my flesh and bone" (Judg. 9:2; Isa. 58:7) denotes relationship. In the New Testament, besides these it is also used to denote the sinful element of human nature as opposed to the "Spirit" (Rom. 6:19; Matt. 16:17). Being "in the flesh" means being unrenewed (Rom. 7:5; 8:8, 9), and to live "according to the flesh" is to live and act sinfully (Rom. 8:4, 5, 7, 12). This word also denotes the human nature of Christ (John 1:14, "The Word was made flesh." Comp. also 1 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 1:3).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Cite This Source

flesh

In addition to the idioms beginning with flesh, also see go the way of all flesh; in person (the flesh); make one's flesh creep; neither fish nor fowl (flesh); pound of flesh; press the flesh; spirit is willing but the flesh is weak; thorn in one's flesh.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see flesh on Thesaurus | Reference