flesh

plural fleshes

1. uncountableusuallyThe soft tissue of the body, especially muscle and fat.

   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.

   1918, Fannie Farmer, Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Chapter XVII: Poultry and Game

2. uncountableusuallyThe skin of a human or animal.
3. broadlyuncountableusuallyBare arms, bare legs, bare torso.
4. uncountableusuallyAnimal tissue regarded as food; meat (but sometimes excluding fish).

   Chicken is already the most popular meat in the US, and is projected to be the planet’s favourite flesh by 2020.

   2018 May 8, Raj Patel, Jason W Moore, “How the chicken nugget became the true symbol of our era”, in The Guardian

   2 more examples

   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

   1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XV

   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.

   1530 January 27 (Gregorian calendar), W[illiam] T[yndale], transl., [The Pentateuch] (Tyndale Bible), Malborow [Marburg], Hesse: […] Hans Luft [actually Antwerp: Johan Hoochstraten], →OCLC, Leuiticus vij:[19–21], folio XI, verso

5. uncountableusuallyThe human body as a physical entity.

   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, […]

   1530 January 27 (Gregorian calendar), W[illiam] T[yndale], transl., [The Pentateuch] (Tyndale Bible), Malborow [Marburg], Hesse: […] Hans Luft [actually Antwerp: Johan Hoochstraten], →OCLC, Leuiticus vj:[10], folio IX, recto

   1 more 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.

   1986 February 15, Michael Bronski, “Carl Wittman: An Activist's Life”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 31, page 7

6. uncountableusuallylifestyleThe mortal body of a human being, contrasted with the spirit or soul.

   1929 January, Bassett Morgan (Grace Jones), Bimini, first published in Weird Tales, reprinted 1949, in Avon Fantasy Reader, Issue 10, But death had no gift for me, no power to free me from flesh.

   2 more examples

   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.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Peter 1:24

   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.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Galatians 5:17

7. uncountableusuallylifestyleThe evil and corrupting principle working in man.
8. uncountableusuallyThe soft, often edible, parts of fruits or vegetables.

   The flesh of black walnuts was a protein-packed winter food carefully hoarded in tall, stilted buildings.

   2003, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, Arboretum America: A Philosophy of the Forest, page 81

9. obsoleteuncountableusuallyTenderness of feeling; gentleness.

   There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart.

   1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC

10. obsoleteuncountableusuallyKindred; stock; race.

    He is our brother and our flesh.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 37:27

11. uncountableusuallyA yellowish pink color; the color of some Caucasian human skin.

    She opened [...] a third that was the peachy white that crayon companies used to call “flesh”.

    2018, Tayari Jones, An American Marriage, Oneworld Publications, page 243

present singular third person fleshes · participle present fleshing · participle past fleshed · past fleshed

1. transitiveTo reward (a hound, bird of prey etc.) with flesh of the animal killed, to excite it for further hunting; to train (an animal) to have an appetite for flesh.

   Before they had fleshed the hounds, however, he recollected himself […].

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

2. transitiveTo bury (something, especially a weapon) in flesh.

   Give me a clean sword and a clean foe to flesh it in.

   1933, Robert E. Howard, The Scarlet Citadel

3. obsoleteTo inure or habituate someone in or to a given practice.First known use 16th–18th c.

   And whosoever could now joyne us together, and eagerly flesh all our people to a common enterprise, we should make our ancient military name and chivalrous credit to flourish againe.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 7, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

4. transitiveTo glut.
5. transitiveTo put flesh on; to fatten.
6. To remove the flesh from the skin during the making of leather.