flay

flay

to strip off the skin or hide of, as by whipping
to criticize or scold mercilessly
to rob; pillage

Origin of flay

Middle English flan from Old English flean, akin to Middle Dutch vlaen, Old Norse fla from Indo-European base an unverified form pl??-, to tear off from source flitch

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MLA Style

"flay." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/flay>.

APA Style

flay. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/flay

flay

transitive verb

flayed, flay·ing, flays

To strip off the skin or outer covering of.
To strip of money or goods; fleece.
To whip or lash.
To assail with stinging criticism; excoriate.

Origin of flay

Middle English flen from Old English flēan

Related Forms:

flay′er
noun

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"flay." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/flay>.

APA Style

flay. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/flay

Verb

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

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

Noun

(plural flays)

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

Origin

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”), causitive of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plew-k-, *plew- (“to run, flow, swim, fly”). Cognate with Old High German arflaugjan ("to frighten, cause to flee"; whence Middle High German ervlougen (“to put to flight, drive away, expel”)), Icelandic fleygja (“to throw away, discard”), Gothic - (us-flaugjan, “to cause to fly”).