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Flay
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A fright; a scare. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal
- 2 Fear; a source of fear; a formidable matter; a fearsome or repellent-looking individual. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal
- 1 To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening). Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive
- 2 To strip the skin off; to skin.
"The farmer flayed him as he had the bear, and so he had both bear-skin and fox-skin."
- 3 strip the skin off wordnet
- 4 To frighten; scare; terrify. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive
"If they'd let me have my way, I could have flayed him into shape"
- 5 To lash or whip.
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- 6 To be fear-stricken. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, intransitive
Etymology
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”).
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”).
From Middle English flen, from Old English flēan, from Proto-West Germanic *flahan, from Proto-Germanic *flahaną.
See also for "flay"
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