Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To strip off the skin or outer covering of.
- v. To strip of money or goods; fleece.
- v. To whip or lash.
- v. To assail with stinging criticism; excoriate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To skin; strip off the skin of: as, to flay an ox.
- To strip off, in a general sense.
- To cause to fly; put to flight.
- To frighten.
- To be fear-struck.
- n. Fright; fear.
- n. A kick; a random blow; a fit of ill humor.
Wiktionary
- v. to strip skin off
- v. to lash
- v. transitive, Northern England, Scotland To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).
- v. transitive, Northern England, Scotland To frighten; scare; terrify.
- v. intransitive, Northern England, Scotland To be fear-stricken.
- n. Northern England, Scotland A fright; a scare.
- n. Northern England, Scotland Fear; a source of fear; a formidable matter; a fearsome or repellent-looking individual.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To skin; to strip off the skin or surface of
WordNet 3.0
- v. strip the skin off
Etymologies
- From Middle English flayen, flaien, fleien, from Old English *flīeġan ("to cause to fly, put to flight, frighten"; found only in compounds: āflīeġan), from Proto-Germanic *flaugijanan (“to let fly, cause to fly”), causitive of Proto-Germanic *fleuganan (“to fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plew-k-, *plew- (“to run, flow, swim, fly”). Cognate with Old High German arflaugjan ("to frighten, cause to flee"; whence Middle High German ervlougen ("to put to flight, drive away, expel")), Icelandic fleygja ("to throw away, discard"), Gothic 𐌿𐍃-𐍆𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (us-flaugjan, "to cause to fly"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English flen, from Old English flēan. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Looks like someone's cosy old granny and has a tongue that would flay a kangaroo.”
Rat Race
“Would Michelle flay the bannana prior to she cooking it?”
“Merciless, cruel, and unforgiving," wrote Angela Carter a more obvious admirer in her 1982 preface to this edition: "Stead has a rare capacity to flay the reader's sensibilities.”
“And when he later threatens the recalcitrant Goneril that her sister will "with her nails flay thy wolfish visage", he brandishes his own vulpine claw in her face.”
“A sharp blade brandished, he said I'm going to flay you for food.”
“And they lashed me with whips that flay the skin with each stroke.”
“Conlin, Chopp, everyone on the Council that supported that: Traitors, the lot of them, and this will literally flay and skin them come next election cycle if they don't stand up to the state.”
“It has become fashionable for critics such as Jonathan Alter, author of a very kind book on Obama's first year, and the New Republic's Jonathan Chait to flay liberals for criticizing Obama on the premise that Republicans were determined to block whatever he sent Congress.”
“You're lucky I don't flay you alive for this black deed!”
“They don't anticipate that harassment may await them, equal pay may still be a dream, poverty a reality for many, that a hypersexualised culture will dog their attempts to feel comfortable in their bodies and childcare will flay them when they come to reproduce.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘flay’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Words that shouldn't be used on a fir...
probation, trekkie, wart, unemployed, fetish, suspended driver'..., felon, aerophagia, undies, debt collector, girlfriend, boyfriend and 272 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 185 more...
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LIT - Iliad - key words and protagonists
abduct, abducting, abductor, Achaea, Achaean, Achilles, advise, Aegean, Aegean Sea, Aegina, aegis, Aeneas and 713 more...
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pagecrusher's Words
fugu, ilk, rigamarole, superfluous, dearth, sacrosanct, moniker, bifurcate, villainous, onus, brazen, odin and 268 more...
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yoshiyahu's Words
meme, disingenuous, antebellum, hypnagogic, philtrum, transference, prototypical, janissary, tuareg, shoal, caltrop, bannister and 89 more...
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Words I'd Like to Use Someday
thundersnow, phantasmagoria, mercurial, chimerical, taciturn, paraclete, lapis lazuli, flay, guttersnipe, wonky, misanthrope, kestrel and 583 more...
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Brinstar's Words
cobalt, obfuscate, archon, wii, sniper, arcane, celerity, visage, auspicious, ether, epidemic, lich and 138 more...
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theastic's Words
cellar, stalemate, wrought, opal, tyrant, squelch, squab, linen, tartan, paisley, scope, siren and 395 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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KlinkKlonk's Words
hugger-muggering, gabfest, zedonk, serendipitous, schauden freude, scintilla, iconoclast, firebrand, floccinaucinihili..., schlepping, flaccid, iridescent and 126 more...
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lemongrass's Words
ineffable, diode, abraxas, neologism, algorithm, schadenfreude, heresiology, vague, cathartic, quixotic, apocrypha?, quintessence and 103 more...
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GRE
high frequent
industrious, feckless, debunk, quintessence, loquacious, obsequious, laconic, plethora, lugubrious, serendipity, facetious, turgid and 261 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for flay.
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