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Webster 1913 Edition

Flesh

Flesh

(flĕsh)
,
Noun.
[OE.
flesch
,
flesc
, AS.
flǣsc
; akin to OFries.
flāsk
, D.
vleesch
, OS.
flēsk
, OHG.
fleisc
, G.
fleisch
, Icel. & Dan.
flesk
lard, bacon, pork, Sw.
fläsk
.]
1.
The aggregate of the muscles, fat, and other tissues which cover the framework of bones in man and other animals; especially, the muscles.
☞ In composition it is mainly proteinaceous, but contains in adition a large number of low-molecular-weight subtances, such as creatin, xanthin, hypoxanthin, carnin, etc. It is also rich in potassium phosphate.
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.
Shakespeare
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.
(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.
☞ 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
(Zool.)
,
one of several species of flies whose larvæ 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
(Zool.)
,
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

,
Verb.
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.
Shakespeare
The wild dog
Shall
flesh
his tooth on every innocent.
Shakespeare
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 1828 Edition

Flesh

FLESH

,
Noun.
[I know not the primary sense; it may be soft.]
1.
A compound substance forming a large part of an animal, consisting of the softer solids, as distinguished from the bones and the fluids. Under the general appellation of flesh, we include the muscles, fat, glands &c., which invest the bones and are covered with the skin. It is sometimes restricted to the muscles.
2.
Animal food, in distinction from vegetable.
Flesh without being qualified with acids, is too alkalescent a diet.
3.
The body of beasts and fowls used as food, distinct from fish. In Lent, the Catholics abstain from flesh, but eat fish.
4.
The body, as distinguished from the soul.
As if this flesh, which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable.
5.
Animal nature; animals of all kinds.
The end of all flesh is come before me. Gen. 6.
6.
Men in general; mankind.
My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh. Gen. 6.
7.
Human nature.
The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. John 1.
8.
Carnality; corporeal appetites.
Fasting serves to mortify the flesh.
The flesh lusteth against the spirit. Gal. 5.
9.
A carnal state; a state of unrenewed nature.
They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom. 8.
10.
The corruptible body of man, or corrupt nature.
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
1Cor. 15.
11.
The present life; the state of existence in this world.
To abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Phil. 1.
12.
Legal righteousness, and ceremonial services.
What shall we then say that Abraham, our father as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Rom. 4. Gal. 3.
13.
Kindred; stock; family.
He is our brother, and our flesh. Gen. 37.
14.
In botany, the soft pulpy substance of fruit; also, that part of a root, fruit, &c., which is fit to be eaten.
One flesh, denotes intimate relation. To be one flesh is to be closely united, as in marriage. Gen. 2. Eph. 5.
After the flesh, according to outward appearances, John 8:
Or according to the common powers of nature. Gal. 4.:
Or according to sinful lusts and inclinations. Rom. 8.
An arm of flesh, human strength or aid.

FLESH

, v.t.
1.
To initiate; a sportsman's use of the word, from the practice of training hawks and dogs by feeding them with the first game they take or other flesh.
2.
To harden; to accustom; to establish in any practice, as dogs by often feeding on any thing. Men fleshed in cruelty; women fleshed in malice.
3.
To glut; to satiate.
The wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent.

Definition 2024

flesh

flesh

English

Noun

flesh ‎(uncountable)

  1. The soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat.
    • 1918, Fannie Farmer, Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Chapter XVII: Poultry and Game:
      The flesh of chicken, fowl, and turkey has much shorter fibre than that of ruminating animals, and is not intermingled with fat,—the fat always being found in layers directly under the skin, and surrounding the intestines.
  2. The skin of a human or animal.
  3. (by extension) Bare arms, bare legs, bare torso.
  4. (archaic) Animal tissue regarded as food; meat.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter ij, in Le Morte Darthur, book XV:
      Thenne syr launcelot sayd / fader what shalle I do / Now sayd the good man / I requyre yow take this hayre that was this holy mans and putte it nexte thy skynne / and it shalle preuaylle the gretely / syr and I wille doo hit sayd sir launcelot / Also I charge you that ye ete no flesshe as longe as ye be in the quest of the sancgreal / nor ye shalle drynke noo wyne / and that ye here masse dayly and ye may doo hit
    • c.1530s, William Tyndale, Tyndale Bible, Leviticus, 7, xix-xxi,
      The flesh that twycheth any vnclene thinge shall not be eaten. but burnt with fire:and all that be clene in their flesh, maye eate flesh.
      Yf any soule eate of the flesh of the peaceofferynges, that pertayne vnto the Lorde and hys vnclennesse yet apon him, the same soule shall perisshe from amonge his peoole[sic]. Moreouer yf a soule twych any vnclene thinge, whether it be the vnclennesse of man or of any vnclene beest or any abhominacion that is vnclene: ad the eate of the flesh of the peaceoffrynges whiche pertayne vnto the Lord, that soule shall perissh from his people.
  5. The human body as a physical entity.
    • c.1530s, William Tyndale, Tyndale Bible, Leviticus, 6, x,
      And the preast shall put on his lynen albe and his lynen breches apon his flesh, and take awaye the asshes whiche the fire of the burntsacrifice in the altare hath made, and put them besyde the alter,
  6. (religion) The mortal body of a human being, contrasted with the spirit or soul.
    • 1769, King James Bible, Oxford Standard text, Galatians, 5, xvii,
      For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
    • 1929 January, Bassett Morgan (Grace Jones), Bimini, first published in Weird Tales, reprinted 1949, in Avon Fantasy Reader, Issue 10,
      But death had no gift for me, no power to free me from flesh.
  7. (religion) The evil and corrupting principle working in man.
  8. The soft, often edible, parts of fruits or vegetables.
    • 2003, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Arboretum America: A Philosophy of the Forest, page 81,
      The flesh of black walnuts was a protein-packed winter food carefully hoarded in tall, stilted buildings.
  9. (obsolete) Tenderness of feeling; gentleness.
    • Cowper
      There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart.
  10. (obsolete) Kindred; stock; race.
    • Bible, Genesis xxxvii. 27
      He is our brother and our flesh.
  11. A yellowish pink colour; the colour of some Caucasian human skin.
    flesh colour:    

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:body

Translations

body tissue
human body entity
(religion) mortal body

Verb

flesh ‎(third-person singular simple present fleshes, present participle fleshing, simple past and past participle fleshed)

  1. (transitive) To bury (something, especially a weapon) in flesh.
    • 1933, Robert E. Howard, The Scarlet Citadel
      Give me a clean sword and a clean foe to flesh it in.
  2. (obsolete) To inure or habituate someone in or to a given practice. [16th-18th c.]
  3. To put flesh on; to fatten.
  4. To add details.
    The writer had to go back and flesh out the climactic scene.
  5. To remove the flesh from the skin during the making of leather.

Translations

Derived terms

See also

Anagrams

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English flǣsc, from Proto-Germanic *flaiską, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁ḱ- ‎(“to tear, peel off”).

Alternative forms

Noun

flesh

  1. flesh, meat

Descendants

Etymology

From Middle English flesh, from Old English flǣsc, from Proto-Germanic *flaiską, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁ḱ- ‎(“to tear, peel off”). Compare German Fleisch, Low German Fleesch, West Frisian fleis, Dutch vlees, Danish flæsk, Icelandic flesk.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /flɛʃ/
  • Rhymes: -ɛʃ

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