Meanings
verbfley (third-person singular simple present fleys, present participle fleying, simple past and past participle fleyed)
present singular third person fleys · participle present fleying · participle past fleyed · past fleyed
- obsoletetransitiveTo frighten.
The Jack O'Lanthron was among the reeds again last night, and some of my neighbours are sore fleyed.
1860, James Phillips Kay, Scarsdale; or, Life on the Lancashire and Yorkshire border - intransitiveobsoleteTo be frightened.
Origin
- Old Englishflīeġan
- Middle Englishfleyen
- Englishfley
From Middle English fleyen, from Old English flīeġan.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with fley
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
fley. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fley
MLA
“fley.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fley. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fley,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fley.
Source: fley on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.