Word: flesh Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English flesh, flesch, flæsch, from Old English flǣsċ, from Proto-West Germanic *flaiski, from Proto-Germanic *flaiski, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁ḱ- (“to tear, peel off”). Cognates Cognate with Yola vleash, vlesh (“flesh”), North Frisian flaasch, flaosk, Fleesk, fleäsk, floask, flääsk, flååsch (“flesh, meat”), Saterland Frisian Flaask (“flesh, meat”), West Frisian fleis (“flesh, meat”), Cimbrian blòas, vlaisch, vlòas (“flesh, meat”), Dutch vlees, vleesch (“flesh, meat”), German Fleisch (“flesh, meat”), German Low German and Luxembourgish Fleesch (“flesh, meat”), Vilamovian fłaś (“meat; muscle”), Yiddish פֿלייש (fleysh, “flesh, meat”), Danish flæsk (“pork; bacon”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk flesk (“pork; bacon”), Swedish fläsk (“pork”). Pronunciation: /flɛʃ/ 1. The soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: The flesh of chicken, fowl, and turkey has much shorter fibre than that of ruminating animals, and is not intermingled with fat,—the fat always being found in layers directly under the skin, and surrounding the intestines. 2. The skin of a human or animal. Labels: uncountable, usually 3. Bare arms, bare legs, bare torso. Labels: broadly, uncountable, usually 4. Animal tissue regarded as food; meat (but sometimes excluding fish). Labels: uncountable, usually Example: Thenne syr launcelot sayd / fader what shalle I do / Now sayd the good man / I requyre yow take this hayre that was this holy mans and putte it nexte thy skynne / and it shalle preuaylle the gretely / syr and I wille doo hit sayd sir launcelot / Also I charge you that ye ete no flesshe as longe as ye be in the quest of the sancgreal / nor ye shalle drynke noo wyne / and that ye here masse dayly and ye may doo hit Example: The fleſh that twycheth any vnclene thinge ſhall not be eaten. but burnt with fire: and all that be clene in their fleſh, maye eate fleſh. Yf any ſoule eate of the fleſh of the peaceofferynges, that pertayne vnto the Lorde and hys vnclenneſſe yet apon him, the ſame ſoule ſhall periſſhe from amonge his peoole.^([sic]) Moreouer yf a ſoule twych any vnclene thinge, whether it be the vnclenneſſe of man or of any vnclene beeſt or any abhominacion that is vnclene: ãd thẽ eate of the fleſh of the peaceoffrynges whiche pertayne vnto the Lord, that ſoule ſhall periſſh from his people. 5. The human body as a physical entity. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: And the preaſt ſhall put on his lynen albe and his lynen breches apon his fleſh, and take awaye the aſſhes whiche the fire of the burntſacrifice in the altare hath made, and put them beſyde the alter, […] Example: In my political/cultural mythology Carl remained this larger-than-life figure […] But knowing Carl, the fantasy made flesh, was a different experience. The keen mind that wrote "A Gay Manifesto" was even more perceptive and challenging in real life. 6. The mortal body of a human being, contrasted with the spirit or soul. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: For all flesh is as grasse, and all the glory of man as the flowre of grasse: the grasse withereth, and the flowre thereof falleth away. Example: For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that yee cannot doe the things that yee would. 7. The evil and corrupting principle working in man. Labels: uncountable, usually 8. The soft, often edible, parts of fruits or vegetables. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: The flesh of black walnuts was a protein-packed winter food carefully hoarded in tall, stilted buildings. 9. Tenderness of feeling; gentleness. Labels: obsolete, uncountable, usually Example: There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart. 10. Kindred; stock; race. Labels: obsolete, uncountable, usually Example: He is our brother and our flesh. 11. A yellowish pink color; the color of some Caucasian human skin. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: She opened [...] a third that was the peachy white that crayon companies used to call “flesh”.