Flay definition

flā

Words form:

Frequency:

To strip off the skin or outer covering of.

verb

To whip or lash.

verb

To strip off the skin or hide of, as by whipping.

verb

To strip of money or goods; fleece.

verb

To assail with stinging criticism; excoriate.

verb

To criticize or scold mercilessly.

verb

To rob; pillage.

verb

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).

verb

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To frighten; scare; terrify.

verb

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To be fear-stricken.

verb

(UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A fright; a scare.

noun

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

noun

To strip skin off.

verb

verb

Origin of flay

Middle English flen from Old English flēan

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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”).

From Wiktionary
From Old English flean from Proto-Germanic *flahaną. Cognate with Old Norse flá (“to flay”), whence Danish flå.

From Wiktionary