fleece

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The coat of wool of a sheep or similar animal.
2. n. The yield of wool shorn from a sheep at one time.
3. n. A soft woolly covering or mass.
4. n. Fabric with a soft deep pile.
5. v. To defraud of money or property; swindle.
6. v. To shear the fleece from.
7. v. To cover with or as if with fleece.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The coat of wool that covers a sheep, or that is shorn from a sheep at one time. In commerce wools are distinguished as fleece-wools and dead-wools, the former being obtained from the living animals at the annual shearings, and the latter from animals that have been killed.
2. n. Something resembling a fleece of wool in quality or appearance.
3. n. Specifically— A textile fabric with a Soft silky pile, used for warmth, as for lining certain garments, gloves, etc.
4. n. The long and soft nap or pile of such a fabric.
5. n. The loose and thin sheet of cotton or wool coming from the breaking-card in the process of manufacture.
6. n. In heraldry, the woolly skin of a sheep, usually so depicted that it resembles the animal itself, suspended by means of a ring passing around its middle. It is the well-known pendent badge of the order of the Golden Fleece, and is also used as a bearing.
7. n. In a bison, the fat and lean meat which lies along the loin and ribs.
8. n. [⟨ fleece, v.] A snatch; an attempt to fleece.
9. To deprive of the fleece or natural covering of wool.
10. To clip or diminish, as a fleece: said of dishonest taking of goods or property.
11. To strip of money or property unfairly or under false pretenses; rob heartlessly; take from without mercy.
12. To spread over as if with a fleece of wool.
13. n. In anat., white fibers, resembling wool, encircling the corpus dentatum in the cerebellum. Also called fleece of Stilling.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable Hair or wool of a sheep or similar animal
2. n. uncountable Insulating skin with the wool attached
3. n. countable A textile similar to velvet, but with a longer pile that gives it a softness and a higher sheen.
4. n. countable An insulating wooly jacket
5. n. roofing Mat or felts composed of fibers, sometimes used as a membrane backer.
6. v. Con or trick someone out of money.
7. v. To shear the fleece from an animal (such as a sheep).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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.
2. n. Any soft woolly covering resembling a fleece.
3. n. (Manuf.) The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine.
4. v. To deprive of a fleece, or natural covering of wool.
5. v. To strip of money or other property unjustly, especially by trickery or fraud; to bring to straits by oppressions and exactions.
6. v. rare To spread over as with wool.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. shear the wool from
2. n. tanned skin of a sheep with the fleece left on; used for clothing
3. v. rip off; ask an unreasonable price
4. n. outer coat of especially sheep and yaks
5. n. a soft bulky fabric with deep pile; used chiefly for clothing
6. n. the wool of a sheep or similar animal