flection 
4. In grain., the variation of the form of words, 
as by 'declension or conjugation. Sec iiiflu-- 
tion. 5. In anat., that motion of a joint which 
brings the connected parts continually nearer 
together: specifically said of the action of any 
flexor muscle: opposed to extension. [In this 
sense always flexion.] 
They throw the change and the pressure produced by 
tlemon almost entirely upon the Intervening curtilages. 
Paleii, Nat. Thuol., viii. 
flectional, flexional (nYk'shon-al), a. [< ><- 
lion + -n/.] Pertaining to flection ; serving to 
bend or vary; specifically, pertaining to the 
terminal variation of words ; inflectional. 
The French inflections . . . are much less complicated 
to the ear than to the eye ; and if we strip the accidence 
of the flectional syllables or letters which iu the spoken 
tongue are silent, the distinct variations in the forms of 
words are far fewer than they appear in the written lan- 
guage. G. P. Marsh, Lects. on Eng. Lang., 1st ser., xvi. 
Australian languages have been esteemed variations 
from one original tongue, or a crossing of flexional and 
monosyllabic speech. 
J. Bonwick, Jour. Anthrop. Inst., XVI. 208. 
flectionless, flexionless (flek'shon-les), a. [< 
flection + -(ess.] Without flection or variation; 
without terminal change or modification. 
fleeter (flek'tor), n. An improper form of flexor. 
fled (fled). Preterit and past participle offleel. 
fledget (flej), a. [Also flidge, flish. flitch, flush, 
flig,fligged, etc. (see fluslfi) ; < AS. "flycge (not 
found; cf. .fli/ge, flight) (> ME. flegge, fligge, 
flygge = MD. vlagghe, D. ring, fledge, able to 
fly, nimble, volatile, = MLG. vlugge = OHG. 
flucclii, MHG. vtiicke, Gc. fliicke, fliigge = Icel. 
fleygr), fledge, able to fly, < fleogan (= D. vlie- 
gen = G. ftiegen, etc.), fly: see fly 1 .] Able to 
fly ; having the wings developed for flight ; 
fledged. 
Driue their young ones out of the nest when they be 
oncejlidge. Holland. 
We lookt on this side of thee, shooting short ; 
Where we did flnde 
The shells of fledge souls left behinde. 
O . Herbert, The Temple Death. 
His locks behind 
Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings 
Lay waving round. Milton, P. L., Hi. 627. 
fledge (flej), v.; pret. and -pp. fledged, ppr. fledg- 
ing. [Also formerly or dial, flidge; (.fledge, a.] 
I. intrans. To acquire feathers large enough 
for flight ; in general, to acquire full plumage : 
often withoMt; as, the young birds have fledged 
out. 
In Westminster, the Strand, Holborn, and the chief 
places of resort about London, doe they every day build 
their nests, and every houre flidge, and, in teanne-time 
especially, flutter they abroad in Hocks. 
Greene (Harl. Misc., VIII. 383). 
H. trans. To feather or provide with plu- 
mage ; provide with anything resembling plu- 
mage. [Rare.] 
Cupid took another dart, . . . 
Fledged it for another heart. 
D. G. liossetti, Troy Town. 
fledged (flejd), p. a. 1. Furnished with fea- 
thers ; able to fly. 
Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledged ; 
and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam. 
Shak., M. of V., ill. 1. 
The birds were not as yet fledged enough to shift for 
themselves. Sir R. V Estrange. 
Hence 2. Covered with anything resembling 
or serving the purpose of feathers. 
The Juvenal, the prince your master, whose chin is not 
yetjtedged. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. 
The bents, 
And coarser grass, . . . now shine 
Conspicuous, and in bright apparel clad, 
And,fltdg'd with icy feathers, nod superb. 
Cowper, Task, v. 26. 
Enormous elmtree-boles did stoop and lean 
Upon the dusky brushwood underneath 
Their broad curved branches, fledged with clearest green. 
Tennyson, Fair Women. 
3. Equipped for flight ; winged. 
Lightlier move 
The minutes fledged with music. 
Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
4. Developed; matured. 
It boots not to discover 
How that young man, who was notfledy'd nor skill'd 
In martial play, was even as ignorant 
As childish. Beau, and Ft., Laws of Candy, i. 2. 
fledgling, fledgeling (flej'ling), . and a. [< 
fledge, a., + -lingl.] I. . 1. A young bird just 
fledged. 
The oriole's flfilnlinfis fifty times 
Have flown from our familiar elms. 
Lowell, To Holmes. 
Hence 2. A raw or inexperienced person. 
L'l>03 
II. a. Newly fledged; untried. 
(it course, it gave the book a widi- reading, followed by 
a murkrd influence upon the style of fledffling poets. 
Sttdman, vict. PoeU, p. 390. 
fledgy(tle,i'i),<f. [<fleilye,a.,+ -y 1 .] If. Newly 
fledged. 
W lit-n they [bees] do foorth carry theyre young swarme 
//''/</</<> to gathrin^. ^liinilmrxt, -Eneid, i. 415. 
2. Covered with feathers; feathery. [Poetical.] 
The swan soft leaning on heryf(/r/i/ breast. 
Keats. 
fledwitet, . Seeflctwite. 
flee 1 (fle), r. ; pret. and pp. fled, ppr. fleeing. 
[< ME. flee, fle, fleea, flen, fleon (prop, a strong 
verb, pret. fleah, fleli, flegh, fleili, fleyghe, flogh, 
fleire, flew, etc., pi. flugen, fluhen, fluwen, floweu, 
etc., pp. flogen, flouien, but with parallel weak 
pret. fleede, fledde, fled, pp. flede, fled (whence 
even a rare inf .flede, prob. after the weak Scand. 
forms) ),< AS. fleon, contr. of orig. *fle6han (pret. 
fledli, pi. flugon, pp. flogen), intr. flee, tr. flee, 
avoid, escape, rarely caus. put to flight, = OS. 
fliolian = OFries. flia = OD. vlien, D. vliedeu 
(pret. vlood, pp. gerloden) = MLG. vlien, vlin, vlen 
= OHG. fliohan, MHG. vliehen, G.fliegen (pret. 
floh, pp. geflohen) (all strong verbs) = leel.flyja 
(pret. flydhi, -pp.flyidlir) = Sw. fly (pret. flydde) 
= Dan. fly (pret. flyede), flee, = Goth, thliu- 
lian (pret. thlauli, pp. thlauhans), flee. The orig. 
initial consonant th has changed to f (as in 
some other cases) in all but the Goth. ; the com- 
mon Teut. root is "thluJi, the word being quite 
different from flyi, AS. fleognn, etc., \/ *flg, 
with which, however, it has been partly con- 
fused from the AS. period: see fly 1 .'] I. in- 
trans. 1. To runaway; take flight; seek escape 
or safety by flight. 
Whan the Knyghte saw hire in that Forme so hidous 
and so horrible, he fleyghe awey. 
Mandeville, Travels, p. 24. 
A lytille aboven is the Chapelle of Moyses, and the 
Roche where Moyses Jieylte to, for drede, whan he saugbe 
cure Lord face to face. Mandeville, Travels, p. 62. 
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Jas. iv. 7. 
It soon appeared that a conspiracy had been on foot ; 
several great men fled from court, among these Johannes, 
who had charge of the king's horses. 
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 615. 
2. To disappear; disperse: as, all ourpleasures 
have fled; the color fled from her cheeks; the 
clouds flee before the rising sun. 
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isa. xxxv. 10. 
3. To move swiftly ; fly ; speed, as a missile. 
[Rare.] 
For arrows fled not swifter toward their aim 
Than did our soldiers. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. 
II. trans. To avoid by flight ; fly from; shun. 
All flagh hym iu fere for ferd of his dynttes. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 10699. 
Thou, O man of God, flee these things. 1 Tim. vi. 11. 
Bold Bavaria fled the Field. 
Congreve, Pindaric Odes. i. 
flee 2 (fle), ii. An obsolete or dialectal form of 
fly' 2 - 
flee 3 t, " An obsolete form of fly 3 . 
fleece (fles), n. [< ME. fleese, flees, flese , fleis, 
flus, fleose, < AS. flcds, also in umlauted form 
flys, flies, fles, fleece, = D. vlies = LG. fliis = 
OHG. vlies, G. rliess, flies, MHG. vlius, G. obs. 
fleuss, fliisx, fleece. A third form appears in 
MHG. vlfts = MLG. LG. rlus, fleece ; cf. OHG. 
flaus, toga, G. flaus or flauscli, a tuft (of wool, 
etc.), pilot-cloth. Not in Scand. or Goth. ; con- 
nections unknown.] 1. The coat of wool that 
covers a sheep, or that is shorn from a sheep at 
one time . In commerce wools are distinguished a&fleece- 
wttolft and dead-wools, the former being obtained from the 
living animals at the annual shearings, and the latter 
from animals that have been killed. 
There was a shepe, as it was tolde, 
The whiche his flees bare all of golde. 
Gower, Coat. A ma i it., v. 
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, ... if he 
were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, . . . then 
let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade. 
Jobxxxi. 19-22. 
2. Something resembling a fleece of wool in 
quality or appearance. 
The heavens betweeu their fairy fleeces pale 
Sow'd all their mystic gulfs with fleeting stars. 
Tennyson, Gardener's Daughter. 
What wandering cloud-shadows sail across this sea of 
olives and of vines, with here and there a fleece of vapour 
or a column of blue smoke from charcoal burners on the 
mountain flank ! J. A. Syinonds, Italy and Greece, p. 69. 
Specifically (a) A textile fabric with a soft silky pile, used 
for warmth, as for lining certain garments, gloves, etc. 
(t>) The long and soft nap or pile of such a fabric, (c) 
The loose and thin sheet of cotton or wool coming from 
the breaking-card in the process of manufacture. 
fleecy 
3. In her., the woolly skin of a sheep, usually 
so depicted that it resembles the animal itself, 
suspended by means of a ring passing around 
its middle. It is the well-known pendent badge of the 
order of the Golden Fleece, and is also used as a bearing. 
4. In a bison, the fat and lean meat which lies 
along the loin and ribs. t'. Ilullock. [Western 
U.S.] 5f. [< fleece, v.] A snatch ; an attempt 
to fleece. Duvien. 
There's scarce a match-maker in the whole town but 
has had a fleece at his purse. 
Mrs. Centlivre, Beau's Duel, ii. >. 
Golden fleece, in Gr. myth., the fleece of gold taken from 
the ram on which Phrixus and Hi lie escaped from being 
sacrificed. It was hung up in Colchis, and recovered from 
King -Betes by the Argoliautic expedition under Jason, 
with the help of Medea. 
Her sunny locks 
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece, 
Which makes her seat of Belmont, Colchos' strand, 
And many Jasons come in quest of her. 
Shak., M. of V., i. 1. 
Order of the Golden Fleece, an order founded by Philip 
the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, on the occasion of 
his marriage with the infanta Isabella of Portugal. The 
office of grand master passed to the house of Hapsburg in 
1477 with the acquisition of the Burgundian dominions, 
which included the Netherlands. After the time of the 
emperor Charles V. (died 1558) this office was exercised 
by the Spanish kings ; but after the cession of the Spanish 
Netherlands to Austria the latter power in 1715 again 
claimed the office. The dispute remains undecided, and 
the order therefore exists independently in Austria and in 
Spain. The badge of the order is a golden ram pendent 
by a ring which passes round its middle. This hangs from 
a jewel of elaborate design, with enameling of several col- 
ors, various suggestive devices, and the motto "Pretium 
laborum non vile." 
fleece (fles), v. t. ; pret. and pp. fleeced, ppr. 
fleecing. [< fleece, .] 1. To deprive of the 
fleece or natural covering of wool. 
They sate Fleecing those Flocks which they never fed. 
Milton, Eikonoklastes, xiii. 
I am glad to drink sherbet in Damascus, and fleece, my 
fiocks on the plains of Marathon. 
G. W. Curtis, Prue and I, p. 40. 
2f. To clip or diminish, as a fleece : said of dis- 
honest taking of goods or property. 
Their wealth and substance being eury where so fleeced, 
. . . they came into Syria, much lessened in numbers, iu 
estate miserable and beggarly. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 519. 
3. To strip of money or property unfairly or 
under false pretenses ; rob heartlessly ; take 
from without mercy. 
Unless it were a bloody murtherer, 
Or foul felonious thief, th&tfleec'd poor passengers, 
I never gave them condign punishment. 
Shale., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 
In bad inns you are fleeced and starved. 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii. 1. 
The outer enclosure is practically a bazaar filled with 
shops, where pilgrims are lodged, and fed, and fleeced. 
J. Fergus/ion, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 348. 
4. To spread over as if with a fleece of wool. 
Meantime, light shadowing all, a sober calm 
Fleeces unbounded ether. Thomson, Autumn,!. 958. 
fleeced (flest), a. [< fleece + -ed 2 .] Provided 
with a fleece : as, well fleeced. 
Monarchs . . . whose aim is to make the People wealthy 
indeed perhaps, and we\\Jleec't for their own shearing, and 
the supply of Regal Prodigality. 
Milton, Free Commonwealth. 
fleecer (fle'ser), n. One who fleeces or strips; 
one who takes by fraud or severe exactions. 
Not fleecers, but feeders ; nnt butchers, but shepherds. 
Prynne (W. Huntley), Breviate, p. 262. 
fleece-WOOl (fles'wul), n. See fleece, n., 1. 
fleech (fleeh), v. t. [So., also written fleicli, 
fleitch; < MD. fletsen, flatter ; cf. flatter^.] To 
wheedle ; coax. 
Duncan fleech'd, an' Duncan pray'd, 
Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig. 
Burns, Duncan Gray. 
The Papists threatened us with purgatory, and fleeched 
us with pardons. Scott, Abbot, xvi. 
fleecings (fle'singz), . pi. [< fleece + -ing 1 .] 
Curds separated from the whey. W. H. Ains- 
worth. [Prov. Eng.] 
fleecy (fle'si), a. and n. [(fleece + -y 1 .] I. a. 
1. Covered with wool ; woolly: as, a^eec^flock. 
Woolly Flocks their bleating Cries renew, 
And from their fleecy Sides first shake the silver Dew. 
Congreve, Tears of Amaryllis. 
Thyrsis, whose care it was the goats to keep, 
And Corydon, who fed the fleecy sheep. 
Beattie, Pastorals, vii. 
2. Resembling wool or a fleece: as, fleecy clouds. 
Fleecy locks and black complexion 
Cannot forfeit Nature's claim. 
Cowper, Negro's Complaint. 
Flamed she erewhile on some sunset's bosom, 
Scarlet and piled with Aeeciest snow ? 
'//. P. Spo/ord, Poenu, p. 7. 
