Fleshpot
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A place offering entertainment of a sensual or luxurious nature. slang
"1884, Henry James, "A New England Winter" in The Century Magazine 28 (4–5) (August–September 1884). "This was absurd for a person who... had never before had such unrestricted access to the fleshpots. The fleshpots were full, under Donald Mesh's roof, and his wife could easily believe that the poor girl would not be in a hurry to return to her boarding-house in Brooklyn.""
- 2 A very attractive woman considered a sex object. US, derogatory, slang
""Mere slip. Serpent of old Nile. Doesn't matter in the least," says Mr. Browne airily; "because she couldn't hear me as it happens. My dear girl, follow out the argument. Cleopatra, metaphorically speaking, was a fleshpot, because the world hankered after her. And—you're another.""
- 3 A pot or vessel of flesh. literally
"We would be againe in Egypt, and ſit by the greaſy fleſhpots, to eate againe our Garlike, Onions, and Leeks."
Example
More examples"1884, Henry James, "A New England Winter" in The Century Magazine 28 (4–5) (August–September 1884). "This was absurd for a person who... had never before had such unrestricted access to the fleshpots. The fleshpots were full, under Donald Mesh's roof, and his wife could easily believe that the poor girl would not be in a hurry to return to her boarding-house in Brooklyn.""
Etymology
From flesh + pot. Earliest known use is from 1548 by Philip Nicolls in its literal sense, referring to a passage from Exodus 16:3, where the Israelites complain to Moses and Aaron about their current situation, reminiscing about the abundance of food they had while in captivity in Egypt; and thus it is a calque from Hebrew הַבָּשָׂ֔ר (“flesh, meat”) + סִיר (“pot”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.