flesh

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The soft tissue of the body of a vertebrate, covering the bones and consisting mainly of skeletal muscle and fat.
2. n. The surface or skin of the human body.
3. n. The meat of animals as distinguished from the edible tissue of fish or fowl.
4. n. Botany The pulpy, usually edible part of a fruit or vegetable.
5. n. Excess fatty tissue; plumpness.
6. n. The body as opposed to the mind or soul.
7. n. The physical or carnal nature of humankind.
8. n. Sensual appetites.
9. n. Humankind in general; humanity.
10. n. One's family; kin.
11. n. 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).
12. v. To give substance or detail to; fill out: fleshed out the novel with a subplot.
13. v. To clean (a hide) of adhering flesh.
14. v. To encourage (a falcon, for example) to participate in the chase by feeding it flesh from a kill.
15. v. To inure to battle or bloodshed.
16. v. To plunge or thrust (a weapon) into flesh.
17. v. To become plump or fleshy; gain weight.
18. idiom. in the flesh Alive.
19. idiom. in the flesh In person; present.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A substance forming a large part of an animal body, consisting of the softer solids which constitute muscle and fat, as distinguished from the bones, the skin, the membranes, and the fluids; in the most restricted sense, muscular tissue alone. Flesh or muscle is composed of muscle-fibers bound together by connective tissue and made into distinct masses of definite function—the various muscles. Together with this are the requisite blood-vessels, lymphatics, and nerves. Chemically, the composition of connective and nervous tissue is here what it is elsewhere. The muscle-fiber itself contains (or readily furnishes) myosin, serum albumin or a closely related body, a globulin called myoglobulin, creatine, and small quantities of carnin, xanthine, hypoxanthine, taurin, etc. The red muscle contains, besides hemoglobin, an allied pigment called histohematin. Potassium salts and phosphates form 80 per cent. of the ash.
2. n. Animal food, in distinction from vegetable; in the most restricted sense, the substance of beasts and fowls used as food, as distinguished from fish.
3. n. The body, as distinguished from the soul; the corporeal person.
4. n. Man, or the human race; mankind; humanity.
5. n. Man's animal or physical nature, as distinguished from or opposed to his moral or spiritual nature; the body as the seat of appetite: a Biblical use: as, to mortify the flesh.
6. n. Kindred; stock; family; near relative or relatives.
7. n. In botany, the soft cellular or pulpy substance of a fruit or vegetable, as distinguished from the kernel or core, skin, shell, etc.
8. n. In Scripture, to be under the control of the animal nature: opposed to spiritual.
9. Consisting of animal substance not fish: as, a flesh diet.
10. To feed full with flesh, and hence with fleshly enjoyments, spoil, etc.
11. To encourage by giving flesh to; initiate to the taste of flesh: with reference to the practice of training hawks and dogs by feeding them with the first game they take, or other flesh; hence, to introduce or incite to battle or carnage.
12. In leather manufacturing, to remove flesh, fat, and loose membrane from the flesh side of, as skins and hides.
13. To clothe with flesh; make fleshy.
14. To become more fleshy, as one who has been ill and is convalescent: used with up.

Wiktionary

1. n. The soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat.
2. n. by extension Bare arms, bare legs, bare torso.
3. n. archaic Animal tissue regarded as food; meat.
4. n. The human body as a physical entity.
5. n. religion The mortal body of a human being, contrasted with the spirit or soul.
6. n. religion The evil and corrupting principle working in man.
7. n. The skin of a human or animal.
8. n. The soft, often edible, parts of fruits or vegetables.
9. n. A yellowish pink colour; the colour of some Caucasian human skin.
10. v. transitive To bury (something, especially a weapon) in flesh.
11. v. To put flesh on; to fatten.
12. v. To add details.
13. v. to remove the flesh from the skin during the making of leather.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The aggregate of the muscles, fat, and other tissues which cover the framework of bones in man and other animals; especially, the muscles.
2. n. Animal food, in distinction from vegetable; meat; especially, the body of beasts and birds used as food, as distinguished from fish.
3. n. The human body, as distinguished from the soul; the corporeal person.
4. n. The human eace; mankind; humanity.
5. n. Human nature.
6. n. In a good sense, tenderness of feeling; gentleness.
7. n. In a bad sense, tendency to transient or physical pleasure; desire for sensual gratification; carnality.
8. n. (Theol.) The character under the influence of animal propensities or selfish passions; the soul unmoved by spiritual influences.
9. n. Kindred; stock; race.
10. n. The soft, pulpy substance of fruit; also, that part of a root, fruit, and the like, which is fit to be eaten.
11. v. 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.
12. v. To glut; to satiate; hence, to harden, to accustom.
13. v. (Leather Manufacture) To remove flesh, membrance, etc., from, as from hides.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a soft moist part of a fruit
2. v. remove adhering flesh from (hides) when preparing leather manufacture
3. n. the soft tissue of the body of a vertebrate: mainly muscle tissue and fat
4. n. alternative names for the body of a human being