Forms: 1 flǽsc, flǽc, (2 flec, flesce), 3 flæsce, flæs(h, flexs(s, fless(e, 4 south. vlesse, 3–4 fles, flei(e)s, fle(y)hs, 4–5 fleisch, 3–5 fle(c)che, flesch(e, 3 south. vlesche, (3 flashe, fleschs, 4 fleschsch), 3–6 flessh(e, (4 fleisshe), 4–6 fleshe, (6 fleash, flehsse, fleszhe, 9 dial. flash), 4– flesh. [Com. WGer. and Scandinavian: OE. flǽsc str. neut. corresponds to OFris. flâsk, OS. flêsk (Du. vleesch), OHG. fleisc (MHG. vleisch, mod.Ger. fleisch), of the same meaning, ON. flesk with shortened vowel (Sw. fläsk, Da. flesk), swine’s flesh, pork, bacon:—OTeut. *flaiskoz-, -iz- (or possibly pl-).
No satisfactory cognates have been discovered either in Teut. or in the related langs. Some have supposed that the specific Scandinavian sense, which exists in some Eng. dialects where ON. influence is out of the question (see, e.g., the West Cornwall Glossary), is the original meaning of the word, and that the occasional OE. form flǽc represents the primary word elsewhere replaced by a derivative with suffix -sk-. On this hypothesis the word might be related to OE. flicce, FLITCH. But general analogy rather indicates the priority of the wider sense found in Eng. and German; and it is most likely that the OE. flǽc is an inaccurate spelling, or at most a dialectal phonetic alteration, of the ordinary flǽsc. The shortening of the OE. long vowel before s followed by another cons. is normal.]
I. As a material substance.
1. The soft substance, esp. the muscular parts, of an animal body; that which covers the framework of bones and is enclosed by the skin. Raw flesh: that exposed by removal or fissure of the skin.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. ii. 23. Ðis ys nu ban of minum banum & flæsc of minum flæsce.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2089. Fugeles sulen ði fleis to-teren.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. i. (1495), 100. The heed hath lytill flessh and lytyll fatnesse.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 218. If he be strong & ful of fleisch.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., III. i. 54. Sal. Why I am sure if he forfaite, thou wilt not take his flesh.
1611. Bible, Lev. xiii. 10. If the rising be white in the skin, and it haue turned the haire white, and there be quicke raw flesh in the rising.
a. 1688. Bunyan, Heavenly Footman (1886), 164. Is it nothing for a man to lay hands on his vile opinions, on his vile sins, on his bosom sins, on his beloved, pleasant, darling sins, that stick as close to him as the flesh sticks to the bones?
1750. Lady Luxborough, Lett. to Shenstone, 13 May. One [wound] just above my knee, where the loss of substance (as they call it) makes it longer in curing. New flesh must grow there.
1819. Shelley, Cenci, III. i. 22.
| It … eats into my sinews, and dissolves | |
| My flesh to a pollution, poisoning | |
| The subtle, pure, and inmost spirit of life! |
b. Often in connection with or contrast to bone, fell, or skin.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xxiv. 39. Gast næfþ flæsc & ban.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 136.
| For his fel he ðer leteð; | |
| his fles forð crepeð. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17288 + 449 (Cott.). Spirit has nauther flesch ne bone.
1382. Wyclif, Lev. ix. 11. The flesh forsothe, and the skynne of it [calf] with out the tentis he brent with fier.
a. 1400. Prymer (1891), 79. With skyn and fleschsches thou clothedest me: with boones and synewes thou maadest me to gedere.
a. 1577. Gascoigne, Wks. (1587), 36. To search between the fel and the flesh for fardings.
1611. Bible, Ezek. xxxvii. 8. The sinews and the flesh came vp vpon them [bones], and the skin couered them aboue; but there was no breath in them.
c. Flesh and fell: the whole substance of the body; hence as quasi-advb. phrase: entirely. (To raise or rise) in flesh and fell, rarely in flesh and bone: in bodily form. Cf. Fr. en chair et en os. (Fair) of flesh and fell: in form and complection. Obs. exc. arch.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Exod. xxix. 14. Þæs cealfes flæsc and fell … þu bærnst.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 287. He was mek & mylde ynou, & vayr of fless & felle.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 26564 (Cott.). To rise in flexss and ban.
c. 1375. Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.), 223.
| Vp he rose in flesshe & felle | |
| þo thryd day. |
a. 1440. Sir Eglam., 28.
| The maydenys name was Crystyabelle, | |
| A feyre thynge of flesche and felle, | |
| Ther was none soche in Crystyanté. |
1605. Shaks., Lear, V. iii. 24.
| The good yeares shall deuoure them, flesh and fell, | |
| Ere they shall make vs weepe? |
1840. Browning, Sordello, II. 300.
| Men … burned | |
| Taurello’s entire household, flesh and fell. |
d. Proud flesh: the overgrowth of the granulations which spring upon a wound. Also fig.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, VI. lxviii. 746. The same [oakgalls] doth … consume away superfluous and prowde fleshe.
1649. Lovelace, Poems, 28.
| She proab’d it with her constancie, | |
| And found no Rancor nigh it; | |
| Only the anger of her eye, | |
| Had wrought some proud flesh by it. |
1686. W. Harris, trans. Lemery’s Course Chym. (ed. 2), 171. This Sublimate is a powerful Escharotick, it eats proud Flesh, and cleanses old Ulcers very well.
1848. W. B. Carpenter, Anim. Phys., 302. If inflammation be permitted to arise, the repair takes place by a process termed granulation, which consists in the sprouting forth of a rapidly-growing tissue (commonly known as proud flesh) that fills up the cavity.
e. phr. To make one’s flesh creep, etc.
1727, 1840. [see CREEP v. 6].
1725. Ramsay, Gent. Sheph., I. i.
| I dream’d a dreary Dream this hinder Night, | |
| That gars my Flesh a’ creep yet with the Fright. |
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 252ú3. A weight was on his brain, oppressing him with a sense of suffocation—a cold—a creeping of the flesh—like that felt by the Arabian Prophet when touched by the hand of a supernatural being.
f. In, or with reference to, the Biblical phrase ‘a heart of flesh,’ i.e., a heart capable of feeling, opposed to ‘a heart of stone.’
1381. Wyclif, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. I shal take awey a stonen herte of ȝour fleshe, and I shal ȝeue to ȝou an herte of fleshe, and I shal putte my spirit in the mydil of ȝou.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 8.
| There is no flesh in man’s obdurate heart, | |
| It does not feel for man. |
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, VI. xxix.
| And ye that look thus tamely on, | |
| And see your native land o’erthrown, | |
| O! are your hearts of flesh or stone? |
g. In euphemistic phrases with reference to sexual intercourse.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28474 (Cott.).
| Wit womman knaun and vnkend, | |
| I haue my fles wit þam blend. |
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 285. It was thought she was a Woman, and was turn’d into a cold fish, for she wold not exchange flesh with one that lou’d her.
1620. Ballad ‘As I was ridinge,’ 18, in Furniv., Percy Folio (1867), App., 29.
| I had some hope, & to her spoke, | |
| ‘sweet hart, shall I put my flesh in thine?’ | |
| ‘with all my hart, Sir! your nose in my arse,’ | |
| quoth she, ‘for to keepe out the winde.’ |
h. To go after or follow strange flesh: a Biblical expression referring to unnatural crime.
1382. Wyclif, Jude 7. Sodom and Gomor … goyng aftir other flesch.
1526. Tindale, ibid. Defiled them selves with fornicacion and folowed straunge flesshe [similarly in the later versions].
2. transf. The soft pulpy substance of fruit, or a plant; that part which is enclosed by the rind, and encloses the core or kernel, esp. when eatable. So Gr. σάρξ, L. caro, Fr. chair.
1573. Baret, Alv., F 649. Fleash, the substance vnder the pille or rinde of herbs, &c.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 110 b. Reedes for the most parte have no fleshe at all.
1672. Josselyn, New Eng. Rarities, 57. The seeds [of the Water-Mellon] are black, the flesh or pulpe exceeding juicy.
1779. Mrs. Boscawen, in Mrs. Delany’s Life & Corr., Ser. II. II. 489. The seeds are found in several parts of the flesh.
1846. Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. No. 14. 174 (Agaric). Flesh thick, solid and firm, white, not changing colour, mild and insipid in taste.
1895. Seed Catal. (Potato). Flesh white, fine and floury.
3. Put for: Quantity or excess of flesh; hence, plumpness, good condition, embonpoint, esp. in phrases, to get, († get oneself in), lose flesh; also (To be) in flesh: in good condition, corpulent. Cf. Fr. être en chair.
1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 234. A beautefull Prince, beginninge a littel to growe in flesh.
1592. Shaks., Rom & Jul., V. i. 84. Buy food, and get thy selfe in flesh.
1608. Bp. Hall, Char. Virtues & V., 103. Hee is a slave to envie, and loseth flesh with fretting.
1677. Holyoke, Lat. Dict., To get flesh, pinguesco.
1684. R. H., School Recreat., 26. If he be low of Flesh, or bad Stomach, add a third part of clean old Beans, or two parts of Oats, or Wash his Oats in strong Beer or Ale.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4350/4. A bay Gelding, well in Flesh.
1757. Franklin, Letter to Mrs. Deborah Franklin, 3 Dec., Wks. 1887, II. 527. It is now twelve days since I began to write this letter, and I still continue well, but have not yet quite recovered my strength, flesh, or spirits.
1762. Goldsm., Cit. W., lxxi. The widow, being a little in flesh, as warmly protested against walking.
1774. J. Bryant, A New System; or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology, II. 452. Oxen, that were in flesh, and well fed.
1885. E. Garrett, At Any Cost, ii. 27. A big burly gentleman, with a face which would have been fine, but that its once noble outlines were blurred by too much flesh.
4. The muscular tissue, or the tissues generally, of animals, regarded as an article of food. Exc. when otherwise defined by the context, always understood as excluding fish (see FISH sb.1), and in recent use primarily suggesting ‘butchers’ meat,’ not poultry, etc. (cf. ‘fish, flesh, and fowl’). Somewhat arch., the current word being meat (it survives however in some northern dialects).
a. 800. Corpus Gloss., 2135. Viscera tosta, ȝebreded flaesc.
a. 1154. O. E. Chron., an. 1137. Þa wæs corn dære & flec.
c. 1205. Lay., 19693.
| Neoþer flæs na no fisc | |
| no nanes cunnes drænc. |
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 12/374. To rosti ase men doth fersch flesch.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 266. Sche schal drinke no wijn ne ete no fleisch.
1471. Presentments Juries, in Surtees Misc. (1890), 23. We desyer a remedy of owr buschers for sellynge of thar flech.
1562–3. Act 5 Eliz., c. 5 § 11. No maner of person shall eate any Fleshe on the same [Fishe] daye.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Wks. (Grosart), V. 273 The puffin that is halfe fish, halfe flesh.
1676. Wood, Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 341. Kept a Lent which I never did before; not eat a bit of flesh from Shrove Tuesday (Feb. 8) till Easter day (26 Mar.).
1732. Pope, Hor. Sat., II. ii. 69.
| First Health: The stomach (cram’d from ev’ry dish, | |
| A Tomb of boil’d, and roast, and flesh, and fish, | |
| When Bile, and wind, and phlegm, and acid jar, | |
| And all the Man is one intestine war). |
1772. Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 19 Oct. Flesh is likewise very dear.
1802. Fosbroke, Brit. Monachism (1843), 70. Neither do they eat of fat or flesh except in case of sickness.
b. With the name of the animal or other defining word attached; also † in pl. to signify what is derived from various animals.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, xlix. [l.] 13. Ah ic eotu flesc ferra.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1013. Bred, kalues fleis, and flures bred.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 175.
| Þe comon of þe oste bouht þam hors flesch, | |
| Or mules or assis roste, or haf bien mete lesse. |
1486. Bk. St. Albans, C j b. Thees sayd fleshes bene goode to mewe an hawke.
1528. Paynell, Salerne’s Regim., E ij b. The .ix. is goottis fleshe. The .x. is oxe fleshe. For these be melancolye flesshes.
1685. P. Henry, Diaries & Lett. (1882), 341. I am careful wt I eat, not Fishes & Fleshes.
1865. Baring-Gould, Were-wolves, xv. 264. It is said that human flesh is far sweeter than other flesh; so when a wolf has once tasted human flesh, he desires to taste it again.
† c. phr. Neither flesh nor fish: neither one thing nor the other. Cf. FISH sb. 4 c. Obs.
1528. Roy, Rede me (Arb.), 117.
| Wone that is nether flesshe nor fisshe, | |
| At all tymes a commen lyer. |
1661. Baxter, Mor. Prognost., I. xciii. 22. Men of no Zeal, neither Flesh nor Fish.
d. Strange flesh: unusual or loathsome food. rare.
Perh. an echo of the Biblical use Jude 7, though the meaning is different (see 1 b).
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. iv. 67.
| On the Alpes, | |
| It is reported thou did’st eate strange flesh. |
1819. Shelley, Cenci, III. i. 43.
| I thought I was that wretched Beatrice | |
| Men speak of, whom her father sometimes hales | |
| From hall to hall by the entangled hair; | |
| At others, pens up naked in damp cells, | |
| Where scaly reptiles crawl, and starves her there, | |
| Till she will eat strange flesh. |
† e. collect. Cattle intended for food. Obs.
16[?]. Robin Hood & Butcher, 16, in Furniv., Percy Folio, I. 20.
| Robin he marcht in the greene forrest, | |
| vnder the greenwood scray, | |
| and there he was ware of a proud butcher | |
| came driuing flesh by the way. |
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xvi. 109. That no Butcher should kill Flesh, upon Pain of a great Fine, or to stand six Hours on the Pillory, and Imprisonment Ten Days.
† f. (See quot.) Obs.
1569. in J. Mackenzie, Gen. Grievances Orkney & Shetland, 17. Item, the Comptare charges him with the third of the flesh of the Bishoprick of Orknay.
1859. Oppress. 16th C. in Orkney & Zetland, Gloss., Flesh, Rent paid in Cattle, generally estimated by Weight, 15 Meils = an ox, 10 Meils = a cow, 4 Meils = a sheep.
6. The visible surface of the body, with reference to its colour or appearance. Cf. FLESH-COLOUR.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. ii. 17. Sooth. You shall be yet farre fairer then you are. Char. He meanes in flesh.
1657. Lust’s Dominion, I. ii. 9.
| Although my flesh be tawny, in my veines, | |
| Runs blood as red, as royal, as the best | |
| And proud’st in Spain. |
b. ellipt. for flesh-colour.
1852. Meanderings of Mem., I. 157. Air coloured, scarcely carnate, or a flesh.
1882. Garden, 14 Oct., 341/1. The names of the best varieties … are … Perfection, flesh.
6. Short for flesh-side (of a skin); see 13.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 378. It [the leather] is then … slicked upon the flesh with a broad smooth lump of glass.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 443. The skin is ‘split’ by machinery, and to a perfect nicety, into two portions. That known as the ‘grain.’… The other portion, the ‘flesh,’ is dressed as wash-leather.
1870. Eng. Mech., 11 Feb., 534/2. After slicking out, oil them [skins], flesh and grain, and hang them.
II. Extended and figurative uses (chiefly of Biblical origin).
7. One’s (own) flesh: one’s near kindred or descendants. Now rare exc. in FLESH AND BLOOD. Also, one flesh: said (after Gen. ii. 24, 1 Cor. vi. 16) of husband and wife to express the closeness of the relation created by marriage.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxxvii. 27. He ys ure broþor & ure flæsc.
c. 1300. Harrow. Hell, 195.
| That mi leve moder wes | |
| Boren and shaped of thi fleyhs. |
1382. Wyclif, Isa. lviii. 7. Thi flesh thou shalt not despise.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 71. I doubt not but your your grace, lackyng twoo suche portions of your owne fleshe [your two sons].
1555. Eden, Decades, The Preface to the Reader (Arb.), 50. The deliuerie of these owre brootherne, owre flesshe, and owre bones, from the handes of owre commune enemie.
1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, II. i. Tho’ marriage makes man and wife one flesh, it leaves them two fools.
1819. Shelley, Cenci, I. iii. 104.
| What, if we, | |
| The desolate and the dead, were his own flesh, | |
| His children and his wife, whom he is bound | |
| To love and shelter? |
8. That which has corporeal life. All flesh, † each flesh (omnis caro, Vulg. = Hebraistic Gr. πᾶσα σάρξ); all animals; in narrower sense, all mankind. So † No flesh: nobody on earth, † A piece of flesh: a human being, sample of humanity.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. cxxxv[i]. 26. He eac afedeoð flæsea æȝhwylc.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke iii. 6. Ælc flࣼsc ȝesihð godes hæle.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 591. Ðo was ilc fleis on wer[l]de slaȝen.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter, cxliv. 21.
| And blisse sal alle flesche withal | |
| Unto hali name es hisse. |
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 400 But. ȝif þes daies shulen be abreggid þer shulde not be saved ech fleish.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, III. lxii. Þou art flesshe and non aungell.
1535. Coverdale, Jer. xvii. 5. Cursed be the man that putteth his trust in man, and that taketh flesh for his arme: and he, whose herte departeth from ye Lorde.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, IV. ii. 85. As pretty a peece of flesh as any in Messina.
1611. Bible, Dan. ii. 11. The gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
1630. Prynne, Anti-Armin., 124. What flesh, what person could be saued?
a. 1632. T. Taylor, God’s Judgem., I. ii. xli. (1642), 367. The great and fearefull warrior Iulius Cæsar, one of the most hardie and valiant pieces of flesh that ever was.
1662–3. Pepys, Diary, 17 Feb. He [Lord Sandwich] had a great secret to tell me, such as no flesh knew but himself, nor ought.
1774. J. Bryant, A New System; or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology, II. 195. There seems to have been a great convulsion in nature, insomuch that all flesh died, eight persons only being saved: and the means of their deliverance were so wonderful, that very lasting impressions must have been left upon their minds, after they had survived the fearful event.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Plato, Wks. (Bohn), I. 297. Horsed on these winged steeds, he sweeps the dim regions, visits worlds which flesh cannot enter; he saw the souls in pain, he hears the doom of the judge, he beholds the penal metempsychosis, the Fates, with the rock and shears, and hears the intoxicating hum of their spindle.
9. The physical or material frame of man; the body. Obs. exc. in Biblical allusions. † To be free of one’s flesh: to expose oneself boldly in battle.
In the 16th c. versions of the Apostles’ Creed the earlier expression ‘the resurrection of the flesh’ (= resurrectio carnis) was changed to ‘the resurrection of the body.’
Beowulf, 4840.
| No þon lange wæs | |
| feorh æþelinges | |
| flæsce bewunden. |
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 63. Gif … to be flesce scrud and clað.
12[?]. Creed, in Rel. Ant., I. 282. Hic hleve in … arysnesse of flesse & eche lif.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22785 (Gött.).
| Þat ilke flesh þat we haue nu, | |
| þan sal we haue sua sal we trou. |
a. 1400. Prymer (1891), 78. In my fleysch y schal se god my saueour.
c. 1500. Melusine, xxxvi. 250. He deffended vygourously his flesshe.
1556. Aurelio & Isab (1608), E viij. The grete colde penetrethe youre delicat fleshes.
1607. Marston, What you will, V.
| A true magnanimous spirit should give up dirt | |
| To dirt, and with his own flesh dead his flesh, | |
| ’Fore chance should force it crouch unto his foe; | |
| To kill one’s self, some ay, some hold it no. |
1634. Habington, Castara (Arb.), 133.
| My frighted flesh trembles to dust, | |
| My blood ebbes fearefully away: | |
| Both guilty that they did to lust | |
| And vanity, my youth betray. |
1724. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 132. Our way in Germany was always to seek out the enemy and fight him; and, give the imperialists their due, they were seldom hard to be found, but were as free of their flesh as we were.
b. In (the) flesh: in a bodily form, in a corporeal nature or state; also, in life, living. After the flesh: in bodily appearance or likeness.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Cor. v. 16. If we knowen Crist vp [1388, aftir] þe fleisch [Tindale, 1526, after the flehsse. Similarly in later versions]. Ibid. (1382), Phil. i. 23. For to be with Crist, it is moche more bettere; forsoth for to dwelle in fleisch, it is nedeful for ȝou.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xv. 83 That we schulen rise in fleisch aftir oure deeth.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xlii. 273. None therefore can be a Martyr, neither of the first, nor second degree, that have not a warrant to preach Christ come in the flesh.
1727. De Foe, Hist. Appar., i. (1840), 14. St. Paul, we all know, did speak there of seeing Christ in the flesh.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., IV. vi. The minutes passing on and no Mrs. Wilfer in the flesh appearing.
1874. Morley, Compromise (1886), 162. We all know in the flesh liberal catholics and latitudinarian protestants, who hold the very considerable number of beliefs that remain to them, quite as firmly and undoubtingly as believers who are neither liberal nor latitudinarian.
c. The body (of Christ) regarded as spiritually ‘eaten’ by believers; also applied mystically to the bread in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John vi. 55. Soðlice min flæsc ys mete; & min blod ys drenc.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 97. Þat husel þe ȝe understonden is his holi fleis and his blod.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15234 (Gött.).
| [T]akes and ete of þis bredd, | |
| for flesse þan es it mine. |
1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 110. Ȝif ȝe eeten þe fleish of mannis sone, and drynke his blood, ȝe shulen hot have liif dwellin in ȝou.
1558. Bp. White, Serm., in Strype, Eccl. Mem., III. App. lxxxi. 279. Both in heart and utter gesture, agnize, reverence, and adore the same flesh in substance, altho’ unvisibly in the sacrament.
1651. C. Cartwright, Certamen Religiosum, I. 59. Saint Remigius &c. affirme the flesh of Christ to be in the Sacrament, and the same flesh which the word of God took in the Virgins wombe.
1875. Hymns A & M., ‘Now, my tongue,’ iv.
| Word-made-Flesh true bread He maketh | |
| By His Word His Flesh to be; | |
| Wine, His Blood; which whoso taketh | |
| Must from carnal thoughts be free. |
† d. As a profane oath, God’s flesh! Hence in 17–18th c. in ejaculations, as Flesh! Flesh and fire! Cf. ODDS-FLESH. Obs.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. XI. 212.
| Godis flessh & his fet & hise fyue woundls | |
| Arn more in his mynde þan þe memorie of his foundours. |
1695. Congreve, Love for Love, III. xv. Flesh, you don’t think I’m false-hearted, like a Land-Man.
1701. Cibber, Love Makes Man, II. i. Flesh and Fire! do but speak to her, Man.
17B8. Vanbr. & Cib., Prov. Husb., I. i. 29. Flesh! I thought we should never ha’ got hither!
10. The animal or physical nature of man; human nature as subject to corporeal necessities and limitations.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvi. 41. Witudlice se gast is hræd, and þæt flæsc ys untrum.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 132. Ine bitternesse of flesche, bereð Godes rode.
c. 1300. Beket, 259.
| The here he dude next his liche, his flesches maister to beo, | |
| Schurte and brech streit ynouȝ, adoun to the kneo. |
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, I. 49.
| But that our flessh ne hath no myght | |
| To understond hyt aryght. |
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 59. Hit is bote frelete of flesch.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 8 b. They must despyse … all delectacyons of the flesshe.
1559. Mirr. Mag., Jack Cade, iv.
| These worldly pleasures tickle vs so oft: | |
| Skyl is not weake, but wyl strong, flesh is soft | |
| And yeldes it selfe to pleasure that it loueth, | |
| And hales the mynde to that it most reproueth. |
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. i. 61.
| By a sleepe, to say we end | |
| The Heart-ake, and the thousand Naturall shockes | |
| That Flesh is heyre too? |
1634. Habington, Castara (Arb.), 129.
| But flesh is loath | |
| By meditation to fore see | |
| How loath’d a nothing it must be: | |
| Proud in the triumphes of its growth. |
1853. C. Kingsley, Hypatia, xxx. But though she had found trouble in the flesh, her spirit knew none.
1883. Froude, Short Stud., Ser. IV. 1. iii. 40. In penitence for his guilty compliance the archbishop retired to his see to afflict his flesh with public austerities.
b. In expressions relating to the Incarnation. The days of his flesh: the period of his earthly life.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John i. 14. Þæt word wæs flæsc ȝeworden.
c. 1200. Ormin, 19201. & Godess Word iss makedd flæsh.
a. 1250. An Orison of our Lord, 6, in O. E. Misc., 139. Þi goddede wes ihud in fleysse.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14342 (Cott.).
| I haf tan flexs emang mine aun, | |
| And þof i am noght wit þam knaun. |
1382. Wyclif, Heb. v. 7. Þe which in þe dayes of his fleisch offringe preieris and bisechingis to God.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 2. Our Lord Jesus himselfe all the daies of his abasement and flesh endured them.
11. The sensual appetites and inclinations as antagonistic to the nobler elements of human nature. In theological language (after St. Paul’s use of σάρξ) applied more widely to the depraved nature of man in its conflict with the promptings of the Spirit. Sins of the flesh: esp. those of unchastity.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues (1888), 23. And folȝeð hire flesches wille.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10103 (Cott.).
| Ic am … wit thrin fas bi-thrett, | |
| þis werld, my fleche, þe warlau als. |
1382. Wyclif, Rom. viii. 8. Thei that ben in fleisch, moun not plese to God.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 279. If þat a man wiþstonde and wayue þe firste entisynges of his fleisshe and of þe feend it is no synne.
c. 1500. New Not-br. Mayd, 237, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 11.
| Man feble is to fyght, | |
| The devyll, his flesshe, | |
| The worlde all fresshe, | |
| Provoke hym day and nyght | |
| To sue theyr trace. |
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. ix. 391. I know what Flesh will object, that this State-sinne Jehu must commit to maintain his kingdome.
a. 1729. Clarke, Serm. 1 Cor. xiii. 3, Wks. (1738), xlviii. 300. Disapproving the opinions of those whom a man sincerely thinks to be in the wrong, is not a work of the Flesh, but the necessary Duty of a Christian.
1823. Shelley, Hellas, 155.
| The sage, in truth, by dreadful abstinence | |
| And conquering penance of the mutinous flesh. |
1882. Farrar, Early Chr., II. 423. Things which tend to the gratification of the flesh—that is, of our whole lower and animal nature.
III. attrib. and Comb.
12. General relations: a. simple attrib. (sense 1), as † flesh-budget, -bunch, burden, -frame, -pimple, -pistol (fig. of a person), -rind, -stuff; (sense 4), as † flesh-ax, † broth, -diet, † -kind, † -kit, † -market, meal, † -pie, -provision, † -stall, † -victual; (sense 5), as flesh-tint; (sense 9), as flesh-kinsman; (sense 10, 11), as flesh-delight, -lust.
1424. in Kennett, Par. Antiq. (1818), II. 255. Et in magna secure vocat. *fleschaxe xv. den.
1676. Wiseman, Surgery, II. xii. 204. Her Leg being extreamly emaciated and weak, I advised the bathing it with *Flesh-broth whereinn had been decocted emollient Herbs.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse, Wks. (Grosart), II. 72. That surfit-swolne Churles, who now ride on their foot-cloathes, might bee constrained to carrie their *flesh budgets from place to place on foote.
1841. Browning, Pippa, Introd., 90.
| New-blown and ruddy as St. Agnes’ nipple, | |
| Plump as the *flesh-bunch on some Turk bird’s poll! |
1605. Sylvester, trans. Nove’s Profit Imprisomn., 627. Here below this fraile *flesh-burden tyes-him. Ibid., 218. Mid the *flesh-delights to rust in idle ease.
1731. Arbuthnot, Aliments, I. vi. vi. § 5. Acidity in the Infant may be cur’d by a *Flesh-Diet; in the Nurse.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xix. (1848), 210.
| Some that Christ | |
| Received His *flesh-frame of the elements. |
1860. Farrar, Orig. Lang., vi. 130. ‘Language,’ says Mr. Carlyle, ‘is the *flesh-garment of Thought. I said that Imagination wove this flesh-garment; and does she not?’
1712. W. Rogers, Voy., 357. They having found a good Quantity of Bread and Sweet-meats aboard her, but little of *Flesh-kind.
c. 1300. Cursor M., 20068 (Edin.).
| He calde til him sainte Iohan | |
| Þat was his *fles kinseman. |
1575. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 255. I *fleshe kytt, ijd.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17227 (Gött.). Mi *fless lust to fulfill.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Cor. x. 25. What soeuer is solde in the *fleshmarket, that eate, and axe no question for conscience sake.
1766. Wesley, Jrnl., 13 June. I began preaching in the flesh-market, on the ‘one thing needful.’
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. ii. 313. Instead of one reasonable *flesh-meal, they were now scarcely satisfied with three, each of them too so prodigious in quantity, as would at another time have produced a fever or a surfeit.
1616–61. Holyday, Persius, 336.
| Say, that I’m pleas’d now | |
| Upon the people to bestow a doal | |
| Of oile and *flesh-pies: dost thou dare controul? |
1587. L. Mascall, Govt. Cattel, I. (1653), 13. Barbes, which … will grow and hang like *fleshe pimples vnder his tongue.
1608. Machin, etc., Dumb Knight, III., in Hazl., Dodsley, X. 164. Direct me to her bed-chamber, my noble firelock of a *flesh pistol.
1795. Burke, On Scarcity, Wks. VII. 411. Another cause, and that not of inconsiderable operation, tended to produce a scarcity in *flesh provision.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s Teares, Wks. (Grosart), IV. 173. It had stript his soule foorth of his *fleshe rinde, and tooke it away with him.
14[?]. Medulla, in Cath. Angl., 135, note. Laniatorium, a *fflessh stal.
1855. Browning, By the Fireside, xxiv.
| When, if I think but deep enough, | |
| You are wont to answer, prompt as rhyme; | |
| And you, too, find without rebuff | |
| Response your soul seeks many a time | |
| Piercing its fine *flesh-stuff. |
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., x. Infuse into the counterfeit countenance of Miss Nickleby a bright salmon *flesh-tint.
1562–3. Act 5 Eliz., c. 5 § 11. In sparing and encrease of *Fleshe Victuall of this Realme.
b. objective, as flesh-eater, -former, -maker, -pleaser, † -tawer, † -vourer sbs.; flesh-pleasing vbl. sb.; flesh-amazing, -consuming, -devouring, -eating, -enraging, -mangling, -pleasing, † -tawing, -transpiercing ppl. adjs.
1679. Keach, Glorious Lover, II. v. 285. Hark! dost not hear that *flesh-amazing cry?
1603. J. Davies, Microcosmos (Grosart), I. 63/1.
| Streight away they weare, | |
| (Like Dew against the sunne in highest height) | |
| With *flesh-consuming fleshly fraile delight. | |
| Ibid. (1609), Holy Roode (Grosart), I. 22/1. | |
| Now hath the Monster *Flesh-deuouring Death | |
| Got him within his Bowels. |
1616. J. Lane, Contn. Sqr.’s T., x. 433.
| Not Diomedes horse (*fleshe eatr of men) | |
| had e’ar th’obedience this atchiv’d o’re them. |
1862. H. Spencer, First Princ., II. xiv. § 110 (1875), 315. Among animals the flesh-eaters cannot exist without the plant-eaters.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse, Wks. (Grosart), II. 73. We are such *flesh-eating Saracens, that chast fish may not content vs, but we delight in the murder of innocennt mutton, in the vnpluming of pullerie, and quartering of calues and oxen.
a. 1618. J. Davies, Wittes Pilgrimage (Grosart), II. 39/2. Tel *Flesh-enraging Lust shee is a Soule-confounding Frenzie.
1873. E. Smith, Foods, 6. The division of foods into the two great classes of *flesh-formers and heat-generators is not to be taken too incisively.
1550. Bale, Eng. Votaries, II. E ij b. Callynge bothe hym & his masmongers pulpifices, that is to saye, *fleshe makers.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, VIII. 178.
| And dragged to distant isles, where to the sound | |
| Of the *flesh-mangling scourge, he does the work | |
| Of all-polluting luxury and wealth. |
1586. Whetstone, Eng. Mirror, 63. One of these *fleshpleasers was the heretique Corinthius.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Epist., 176. His watchful soul displeased deeply with that *flesh-pleasing force, complained thereof, shaked himself, and so found ease.
1677. Horneck, Gt. Law Consid., iv. (1704), 128. He that is not tempted to Murther, to Theft, to Adultery, to Fornication, to Contempt of his Parents, to bearing False Witness against his Neighbour, is yet enticed to Idleness, to *Flesh-pleasing, to neglect of Prayer, of Meditation, of Charity, of Faith, of Hope, of Confidence in God, of Zeal, of Fervency, of speaking for Christ, of vindicating his Honour when abused, of improving his time to God’s Glory, and his own Eternal Good.
c. 1050. Suppl. Ælfric’s Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 189. Lanio, uel lanista, uel carnifex … flæctawere [sic MS.].
1609. J. Davies, Holy Roode (Grosart), I. 11/1.
| For, on his virgin skin (most delicate!) | |
| *Flesh-tawing Whips engrosse the deeds of Hate! | |
| Ibid., 13/1. | |
| O Thou do’st the Heads condecorate | |
| Of Kings Terrestriall, with Emperiall Crownes; | |
| Why lett’st weake Wormes thy Head dedecorate | |
| With worthlesse Briers, and *flesh-transpiercing Thornes? |
1533. Tindale, Supper of Lord, Cv. Thys carnall *fleshe vowerer and fleshly Jewe.
c. instrumental, etc., as flesh-clogged, -clouded, -freed, -gorged, -manured, -smelling.
1847. Craig, *Flesh-clogged.
1869. W. P. Mackay, Grace & Truth (1875), 215. My prayer and cry, the longing of my flesh-clogged soul.
1647. H. More, Cupids Conflict, lx.
| But earthly minds whose sight’s seal’d up with mud | |
| Discern not this *flesh-clouded Deity. |
c. 1599. Sylvester, Epit. Death B. Nicolson, Wks. (Grosart), II. 339/1.
| Unkindly kind, why mourn we, friends, in vain? | |
| Whose bitter death is better Life’s beginning; | |
| Whose *flesh-freed Souls are henceforth free from sinning; | |
| Whose earthly loss redoubles heav’nly gain. |
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 435.
| When a touch sets right the turmoil, lifts his spirit where, flesh-freed, | |
| Knowledge shall be rightly named so, all that seems be truth indeed! |
1804. J. Grahame, The Sabbath (1808), 45.
| The croak of *flesh-gorged ravens, as they slake | |
| Their thirst in hoof-prints fill’d with gore, disturbs | |
| The stupor of the dying man. |
1593. Nashe, Christ’s Teares, Wks. (Grosart), IV. 94. A newe storie of *flesh-manured earth haue they cast vpon it, and made it no more the walke of Saints and Prophets, but a poysonous nurcery of Beastes of pray and Serpents.
1627. May, Lucan, VI. (1635), K vij b.
| The funerall beds blacke smoking fragments, and | |
| Their ashy garments, and *flesh-smelling coales. |
d. similative, as flesh-like adj.; flesh-pink, -red adj. and quasi-sb. Also FLESH-COLOURED a.
1552. Huloet, *Fleshlike … carnarius.
1653. Walton, Angler, 166. Carps have no tongues like other fish, but a piece of flesh-like-fish in their mouth like a tongue.
1882. The Garden, XXI. 17 June, 431/1. In colour it [Rhododendron balsamiflorum] is a beautiful *flesh-pink, a tint particularly attractive and pleasing.
1819. Children, Chem. Anal., 380. A faint *flesh red colour.
1843. Portlock, Geol., 219. Crystals … at Island Magee, of a yellowish-white or light flesh-red.
13. Special comb.: flesh-bag (slang), a shirt; † flesh-baste v. (see quot. 1611); also (after BASTE v.3) to beat about the body; flesh-beam = fleshing-beam; flesh-bird, one that lives upon flesh; a carnivorous bird; † flesh-board, ? = fleshing-board; † flesh-brand, a mark burnt into the flesh; hence † flesh-branded pa. pple.; † flesh-bred a., thoroughly trained (in crime); † flesh-broker, slang (see quots.); so † flesh-brokery; flesh-brush, a brush used for rubbing the surface of the body, in order to excite the circulation; † flesh-company, sexual intercourse; † flesh-crook, ? a kind of fork with hooked prongs; cf. FLESH-HOOK; flesh-crow, a dialect name for the carrion crow (Corvus corone); † flesh-day, a day on which flesh may be eaten; † flesh-dresser, ? applied to the beadle who flogged prostitutes; flesh-fallen a., emaciated; † flesh-father, a father ‘after the flesh,’ an earthly father; flesh-flea, the chigoe, Sarcopsylla penetrans (Cent. Dict.); † flesh-fonding, the act of gratifying fleshly appetites or desires; flesh-fork, a fork for removing meat from the pot; flesh-germ, a synonym of Sarcophyte (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1884); flesh-glove, a glove used to stimulate the circulation by rubbing the flesh; † flesh-glue = SARCOCOLLA; † flesh-hold, flesh enough to be held with the teeth; flesh-juice, ‘the reddish, acid liquid which is contained in dead muscle’ (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1884); flesh-knife = fleshing-knife; † flesh-leech, a physician for the body; † flesh-marked pa. pple., having a mark on the body (cf. flesh-branded); flesh-quake [after the analogy of EARTHQUAKE], a trembling of the body; flesh side, the side of a skin that was nearest the flesh (see 6); ‘the rough side of a leather belt’ (Lockwood); † flesh-spades (humorous), the finger-nails; † flesh-string, a muscle; † flesh-tailor, humorously, one who sews up wounds; a surgeon; flesh-taster, an officer appointed to test the wholesomeness of meat; † flesh-timber, corporeal matter; † flesh-time, a time when flesh may be eaten; flesh-traffic, ‘the slave trade’ (Adm. Smyth); flesh-wound, a wound that does not extend beyond the flesh.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., *Flesh-bag, a shirt.
1820. London Mag., I. 29/1. The crap is always before them; they are often without a flesh-bag to their backs.
1611. Cotgr., Glacer … to *flesh-bast, or stitch downe the lyning of a garment, thereby to keepe it from sagging.
1639. Shirley, Maid’s Rev., IV. ii. We were going to *flesh-baste one another.
1796. Coleridge, To Yng. Man of Fortune, Poems (1863), 263.
| O’er his uncoffined limbs | |
| The flocking *flesh-birds screamed! |
1411. Nottingham Rec., II. 86. j. *fleschbord, xijd.
1646. Gaule, Sel. Cases Consc., 104–5. Whether all Witches have Corporall Markes, or diabolicall *Flesh-brands?
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 999/4. A Chesnut Sorrel Gelding … with I. S. *flesh branded on the Shoulder.
1513. More, in Grafton, Chron. (1568), II. 804. A felow *flesh bred in murther before time.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, *Flesh-broker, a Match-maker; also a Bawd. Ibid. Spiritual flesh-broker, a Parson.
a. 1643. W. Cartwright, Ordinary, V. iv. (1651), 86.
| Sir Thomas. Can she suggest yet any good, that is | |
| So expert grown in this *flesh brokery? |
1704. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1718), 197. Chafing of the Skin, or, as we usually call it, the Use of the *Flesh-Brush.
1884. Cassell’s Family Mag., Feb., 143/2. Friction with rough towels and flesh-brush.
1522. World & Child, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 273.
| The Son of God sickerly | |
| Took flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, | |
| Without touching of man’s *flesh-company. |
1465. Reg. Gild Corp. Chr. York (1872), 205. Et j fustinula vocata *fleschcroke.
1576. E. Johnson, in Durham Depositions (Surtees), 312. If ther were a hundrethe devils of hell betwixt him and hir, with fleshe croks in their hands, that he wold run throughe them all to hir.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Brit. Birds, 82. Carrion Crow (Corvus corone), so called from the bird’s habit of feeding on the flesh of dead animals; whence also … *Flesh crow.
c. 1440. Anc. Cookery, in Househ, Ord. (1790), 429. Tempur hom, on fyssheday wyth wyn, and on *flesheday with broth of flesh.
1584–5. Act 27 Eliz., c. 11 § 4. To utter and sell all maner of Sea Fish upon any Flesh Daye in the Weeke.
1674. Josselyn, Voy. New Eng., 13. Four Gallons of Bear, with Mustard and Vinegar for three flesh dayes in the week.
1620. Melton, Astrolog., 32. If Tom Todd and his fellow *flesh-dressers had not quencht those inflammations, many three-chin’d Bawd, dry-fisted Punke, and bisket-handed Pandar would haue had all their hayre burnt off long ere this.
1876. Tennyson, Harold, I. i.
| Look! am I not | |
| Work-wan, *flesh-fallen? |
1876. Whitby Gloss., Flesh-fallen, bodily pined.
13[?]. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxxii. 239.
| But in as muche neuer-þe-latur | |
| As ȝe hedde boþe on *flesch-fadur. |
1558. Grimalde, Cicero’s Offices, Pref. to Rdr. In ryotting and banketing or in outragious *flesh-fondinges.
1662. South, Serm. (1823), I. 109. It was Part of the Ministerial Office to flay the Sacrifices, to clense the Vessels, to scour the *Flesh-Forks, to sweep the Temple, and carry the Filth and Rubbish to the Brook Kidron.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Flesh-fork, a long, two-pronged iron fork for getting up meat out of a pot or caldron—the prongs are curved at the end.
1818. J. Johnson, in Sporting Mag., II. 225. Rubbing first my back, neck, shoulders, and then my body, legs, and thighs with the mohair *flesh-glove, until they had removed from the surface of the skin a perfect paste-like substance which peeled off in rolls.
1659. Rowbotham, Gate Lang. Unl., xi. § 124. Frankincense, myrrh, mastick, camphire, rosin, *flesh glue, turpentine, pitch, (as well stone-pitch as tar) are the juices and gums of certain trees.
1621. Sanderson, 12 Serm. (1637), 369. There was *flesh-hould enough for the riming Satyrists, and the Wits of those times, whereon to fasten the sorest and the strongest teeth they had.
1881. Leicestersh. Gloss., *Flesh-knife, the knife used by tanners to scrape or pare the flesh from the hide on the ‘fleshing-beam.’
c. 1340. Cursor Mundi, 27382 (Fairf.).
| For riȝt as *flesshe leche salle dele | |
| wiþ diuerse saluis to saris hele. |
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1723/4. A large bay Nag … *Flesh-markt on the off Shoulder.
1631. B. Jonson, New Inne, To himselfe, 6.
| They may, blood-shaken then, | |
| Feel such a *flesh-quake to possesse their powers, | |
| As they shall cry, ‘Like ours, | |
| In sound of peace or wars, | |
| No harp e’er hit the stars.’ |
1820. L. Hunt, Indicator, No. 26 (1822), I. 201. The fever of the soul,—the dry misery, which parches the countenance into furrows, and renders us liable to our most terrible ‘flesh-quakes.’
1630. Charter, in Maitland, Hist. Edin., IV. (1753), 298. That none of the Trade presume to brock sheep-skins on the Rim or *Flesh-side.
1792. J. Belknap, Hist. New-Hampshire, III. 159. The way of preserving the [beaver] skins, is by salting and packing them in a close bundle, with the flesh sides together.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XI. viii. My landlady, highly resenting the injury done to the beauty of her husband, by the *flesh-spades of Mrs. Honour, called aloud for revenge and justice.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xiv. 225. Wee see in mans body a Woonderfull mixture of the fower Elements, the veynes spreading forth like Riuers to the vttermost members; as many instruments of sence, as theere be sensible natures in the world; a greate nomber of sinewes, Fleshstrings, and knitters.
1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity, III. vii. O help, help! Here’s a stitch fallen in my guts; oh for a *flesh-tailor quickly.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 403. Four aleconners, and four *flesh-tasters.
1860. W. White, All round Wrekin, xx. (ed. 2), 195. The ‘hardware village,’ as folk called it [Birmingham], with a high-bailiff and a low-bailiff for rulers, and an ale-taster and a flesh-taster among its functionaries.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1191.
| Nes nawt i-teiet to | |
| þe treo þer he deide upon, | |
| for to drehen eawt, | |
| buten *flesch timber. |
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 696. In *flesche tyme, quhen the fische war away flemyt.
1611. Cotgr., Charnaut, flesh-time.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., XIV. (1704), III. 397. Poor Wogan, after many brave Actions perform’d there, receiv’d upon a Party an ordinary *flesh wound; which, for want of a good Surgeon proved mortal to him.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxix. 398. I hit—— one of our dogs, a truant from Morton’s team; luckily a flesh-wound only, for he is too good a beast to lose. I could have sworn he was a wolf.
