flay

See also: Flay

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: flā, IPA^(key): /fleɪ/
• (dialectal) enPR: flē, IPA^(key): /fliː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

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”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”).

Alternative forms

• fla (Yorkshire)
• fley, flee, fly, fleg, flae, flea (Scotland)

Verb

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

1. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).
2. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To frighten; scare; terrify.
   • 1979, “The Trial”, in The Wall, performed by Pink Floyd:

     If they'd let me have my way, I could have flayed him into shape

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

Derived terms

• flaying

Noun

flay (plural flays)

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

Derived terms

• flaysome

Etymology 2

From Middle English flen, from Old English flēan, from Proto-West Germanic *flahan, from Proto-Germanic *flahaną.

Verb

flay (third-person singular simple present flays, present participle flaying, simple past flayed, past participle flayed or (obsolete) flain)

1. To strip the skin off; to skin.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 113:

     The farmer flayed him as he had the bear, and so he had both bear-skin and fox-skin.

2. To lash or whip.

Synonyms

• (remove the skin of): fleece, flense, skin

Derived terms

• beflay
• unflayed

Translations

to strip skin off

• Arabic: سَلَخَ‎ (salaḵa)

  Egyptian Arabic: سلخ‎ (salaḵ)

• Aromanian: bilescu
• Bulgarian: одирам (bg) (odiram)
• Czech: stáhnout kůži pf, stáhnout z kůže pf
• Dutch: villen (nl), stropen (nl)
• Finnish: nylkeä (fi)
• French: écorcher (fr)
• Galician: esfolar (gl)
• German: häuten (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: δέρω (dérō)

• Hungarian: nyúz (hu)
• Italian: spellare (it)
• Japanese: 剥ぐ (はぐ, hagu), 剥ぎ取る (はぎとる, hagitoru)
• Kabuverdianu: sfola, sfolá
• Kazakh: сою (soü)
• Latin: dēglūbō, dēcutiō
• Lithuanian: dìrti
• Maori: tīhore
• Norwegian: flå (no)
• Ottoman Turkish: یوزمك‎ (yüzmek)
• Polish: oskalpować
• Portuguese: esfolar (pt)
• Quechua: iqhay
• Romanian: beli (ro)
• Russian: свежева́ть (ru) (sveževátʹ), сдира́ть шку́ру (sdirátʹ škúru)
• Sicilian: spiḍḍari
• Slovak: stiahnuť kožu pf, stiahnuť pf, odrať pf
• Spanish: desollar (es), despellejar (es)
• Swedish: flå (sv), flänga (sv)
• Turkish: yüzmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: здирати шкіру impf (zdyraty škiru), здерти шкіру pf (zderty škiru)
• Westrobothnian: krapp a

Anagrams

• Alfy