flay

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See also: Flay

English

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 flay on Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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 *flaugijaną (to let fly, cause to fly), causative of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (to fly).

Alternative forms

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Verb

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flay (third-person singular simple present flays, present participle flaying, simple past and past participle flayed)

  1. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).
  2. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To frighten; scare; terrify.
  3. (intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To be fear-stricken.
Derived terms
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Noun

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flay (plural flays)

  1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A fright; a scare.
  2. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Fear; a source of fear; a formidable matter; a fearsome or repellent-looking individual.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English flen, from Old English flēan, from Proto-West Germanic *flahan, from Proto-Germanic *flahaną.

Verb

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flay (third-person singular simple present flays, present participle flaying, simple past flayed or (archaic) flew, past participle flayed or (archaic) flain)

  1. To strip the skin off; to skin.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 113:
      The farmer flayed him as he had the bear, and so he had both bear-skin and fox-skin.
  2. To lash or whip.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ Bingham, Caleb (1808) “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book [] [1], 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 75.

Anagrams

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