Flea

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Flea \Flea\ (fl[=e]), v. t. [See {Flay}.]
     To flay. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]
  
           He will be fleaed first
           And horse collars made of's skin.        --J. Fletcher.


     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Flea \Flea\, n. [OE. fle, flee, AS. fle['a], fle['a]h; akin to
     D. vtoo, OHG. fl[=o]h, G. floh, Icel. fl[=o], Russ. blocha;
     prob. from the root of E. flee. [root]84. See {Flee}.]
     (Zool.)
     An insect belonging to the genus {Pulex}, of the order
     {Aphaniptera}. Fleas are destitute of wings, but have the
     power of leaping energetically. The bite is poisonous to most
     persons. The human flea ({Pulex irritans}), abundant in
     Europe, is rare in America, where the dog flea
     ({Ctenocephalides canis}, formerly {Pulex canis}) and the
     smaller cat flea ({Ctenocephalides felis}) take its place.
     See {Aphaniptera}, and {Dog flea}. See Illustration in
     Appendix.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {A flea in the ear}, an unwelcome hint or unexpected reply,
        annoying like a flea; an irritating repulse; as, to put a
        flea in one's ear; to go away with a flea in one's ear.
  
     {Beach flea}, {Black flea}, etc. See under {Beach}, etc.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  flea
       n : any wingless blood-sucking parasitic insect noted for
           ability to leap

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  39 Moby Thesaurus words for "flea":
     broad jumper, bucking bronco, buckjumper, cat flea, chigoe,
     cockroach, crab, dog flea, frog, gazelle, goat, grasshopper,
     grayback, high jumper, hopper, hurdle racer, hurdler, jackrabbit,
     jigger, jumper, jumping bean, jumping jack, kangaroo, leaper,
     louse, mite, nit, parasite, pole vaulter, red bug, roach, salmon,
     sand flea, stag, sunfisher, timber topper, vaulter, vermin,
     weevil
  
  

From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:

  FLEA
       Four Letter Extended Acronym
       
       

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Flea
     David at the cave of Adullam thus addressed his persecutor Saul
     (1 Sam. 24:14): "After whom is the king of Israel come out?
     after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea?" He
     thus speaks of himself as the poor, contemptible object of the
     monarch's pursuit, a "worthy object truly for an expedition of
     the king of Israel with his picked troops!" This insect is in
     Eastern language the popular emblem of insignificance. In 1 Sam.
     26:20 the LXX. read "come out to seek my life" instead of "to
     seek a flea."