See Also: flesh(2)(dictionary)
Flesh(medicine)
flesh(1)(dictionary)
flesh wound(dictionary)
flesh 2, verb(dictionary)
flesh 1, noun(dictionary)
goose-flesh(dictionary)
flesh-colour(dictionary)
flesh-coloured(dictionary)
proud flesh(medicine)

flesh(1) (iou)



flesh noun.

I.
The soft substance of animal bodies, esp. the muscular part; the tissue which covers the bones and is enclosed by the skin. OE.
Bunyan His..sins, that stick as close to him as the flesh sticks to the bones.
The tissue of animal bodies regarded as food (esp. as excluding fish and sometimes fowl); meat. Now chiefly in phrs. below or preceded by specifying word. OE.
T. Nashe The puffin that is halfe fish, halfe flesh. S. Baring-Gould When a wolf has once tasted human flesh, he desires to taste it again.
Quantity or excess of flesh in proportion to bone; plumpness, fat. Formerly also, good condition. M16.
E. Garrett Its [a face's] once noble outlines were blurred by too much flesh.
The soft pulpy substance of a fruit or plant; the part which is enclosed by the rind and which encloses the core or kernel, esp. as regarded as an article of food. L16.
Anthony Huxley A large pumpkin with bright orange flesh.
The visible surface of the human body, with reference to its colour and appearance. E17.
b. = FLESH-COLOUR. M19.
attrib.: F. H. Burnett The..foot and ankle wore a flesh silk stocking.
More fully flesh side. The side of a hide that adjoined the flesh. M17.
II.
People of the same kindred or descent collectively; (one of) one's family. Now rare exc. in one flesh, flesh and blood below. OE.
Shelley What, if we..were his own flesh, His children and his wife?
That which has corporeal life; the animal kingdom; humankind. Now chiefly in all flesh below. OE.
Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing As pretty a piece of flesh as any is in Messina. R. W. Emerson He..visits worlds which flesh cannot enter.
The physical or material frame of man; the body. Now chiefly in biblical allusion or in in the flesh below. OE.
Bible (AV): Job 19:26 Though..wormes destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. W. Habington My frighted flesh trembles to dust.
b. = BODY noun 3. OE.
The animal or physical nature of man; human nature as subject to material needs and limitations. OE.
J. A. Froude The archbishop retired to his see to afflict his flesh with public austerities.
The sensual appetites and inclinations as opp. to those of mind and soul; the carnal nature of man. ME.
F. W. Farrar Things which tend to the gratification of the flesh.
Phrases: all flesh whatever has bodily life. a thorn in one's flesh, a thorn in the flesh: see THORN noun 1b. flesh and blood noun (a) humankind; the body or its material; human nature with its emotions and infirmities; (b) one's (own) near relatives, descendants, or ancestors. flesh-and-blood adjective actually living, not supernatural or imaginary. flesh and fell noun & adverb (arch.) (a) noun the whole substance of the body; (b) adverb entirely. go the way of all flesh: see GO verb. in flesh arch. corpulent, well-fed, in good condition. in the flesh in bodily form, in life. lose flesh grow thinner. make a person's flesh creep, make a person's flesh crawl frighten, horrify, or disgust, esp. with dread of the supernatural. neither fish, nor flesh (nor good red herring): see FISH noun1. one flesh [Genesis 2:24] intimately united, esp. by virtue of marriage. piece of flesh: see PIECE noun. pound of flesh: see POUND noun1. press flesh, press the flesh: see PRESS verb1. proud flesh: see PROUD adjective 8. put on flesh grow fatter. sins of the flesh sins related to sensual temptation, esp. unchastity. the world, the flesh, and the Devil: see WORLD noun.
Comb.: flesh-brush a brush used to stimulate the circulation by rubbing the skin; flesh-fly a fly which deposits its eggs or larvae in dead flesh, a meat-fly; esp. the black and grey fly Sarcophaga carnaria; flesh-hook (long rare or obsolete) (a) a hook for removing meat from a pot; (b) a hook on which meat is hung; flesh-meat (obsolete exc. dial.) flesh (occas. excluding pork or bacon) as an article of food; fleshmonger (a) a butcher; (b) a pander, a fornicator; (c) arch. rare a slave-dealer; fleshpot (a) arch. a pot in which flesh is cooked; (b) in pl. (with ref. to Exodus 16:3), luxurious living; flesh-quake arch. a trembling of the body; flesh side: see sense 6 above; flesh tint (a) = FLESH-COLOUR; (b) in pl., a painter's rendering of flesh-colours; flesh-worm a worm that feeds on flesh; flesh-wound a wound which does not penetrate the bone or any vital organ.
fleshen adjective (long rare or obsolete) made of flesh (lit. & fig.); covered with flesh: LME.
flesher noun (a) (chiefly Scot.) a butcher; (b) US a fleshing-knife: ME.
fleshhood noun (arch.) the state or condition of being in the flesh, incarnation: LME.
fleshless adjective L16.