Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Fleece |
FleeceNoun1. The wool of a sheep or similar animal. 2. Tanned skin of a sheep with the fleece left on; used for clothing. 3. A soft bulky fabric with deep pile; used chiefly for clothing. 4. Outer coat of especially sheep and yaks. Verb1. Rip off; ask an unreasonable price. 2. Shear the wool from; "shear sheep". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "fleece" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Fleece the wool of a sheep, whether shorn off or still attached to the skin (Deut. 18:4; Job 31:20). The miracle of Gideon's fleece (Judg. 6:37-40) consisted in the dew having fallen at one time on the fleece without any on the floor, and at another time in the fleece remaining dry while the ground was wet with dew. Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: FleeceSynonyms: sheepskin (n), wool (n), gazump (v), hook (v), overcharge (v), pluck (v), plume (v), rob (v), shear (v), soak (v), surcharge (v). (additional references) |
| Antonym: undercharge (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Covering | Integument, tegument; skin, pellicle, fleece, fell, fur, leather, shagreen, hide; pelt, peltry; cordwain; derm; robe, buffalo robe; cuticle, scarfskin, epidermis. |
Dearness | Overcharge, bleed, fleece, extort. |
Poverty | Render poor; Adjective: impoverish; reduce, reduce to poverty; pauperize, fleece, ruin, bring to the parish. |
Stealing | Swindle, peculate, embezzle; sponge, mulct, rook, bilk, pluck, pigeon, fleece; defraud; obtain under false pretenses; live by one's wits. |
Taking | Oust; (eject); divest; levy, distrain, confiscate; sequester, sequestrate; accroach; usurp; despoil, strip, fleece, shear, displume, impoverish, eat out of house and home; drain, drain to the dregs; gut, dry, exhaust, swallow up; absorb; (suck in); draw off; suck the blood of, suck like a leech. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Fleece |
| English words defined with "fleece": alpaca, argonaut ♦ Colchis ♦ Fleeced, Fleeceless, Fleecing ♦ Golden Fleece ♦ Hog of wool ♦ Jason ♦ Lama pacos ♦ Medea, merino, merino sheep ♦ sheepskin, Shorling ♦ tick trefoil ♦ vicuna ♦ Welsh flannel. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "fleece": breech wool, burry wool ♦ Cysteic Acid ♦ doubling-machine operator, DUSTING-AND-BRUSHING-MACHINE OPERATOR ♦ FLEECE TIER ♦ HARNESS MAKER ♦ JASON'S FLEECE ♦ Knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece ♦ Lamb, LAMINATING-MACHINE TENDER ♦ Mede'a ♦ pulmonary anthrax ♦ rag picker's disease, rag sorter's disease, ragpicker's disease, rag-pickers'disease, rag-sorter's disease, Ram and Teazle, Ram of the Zodiac ♦ sheep clipper, SHEEP SHEARER, Skin a Flint, stock clipper ♦ To FLEECE ♦ wool shearer, wool sorter's pneumonia, wool staplers'disease, WOOL-FLEECE GRADER, WOOL-FLEECE SORTER, woolsorter's disease, woolsorters'disease. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "fleece": karakul. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true (Babe; writing credit: George Miller) Baa ram ewe. To your fleece be true (Babe ; writing credit: George Miller, Chris Noonan) I've been grabbed more times than the golden fleece. (Xena: Warrior Princess; writing credit: Serge Rodnunsky) | |
Lyrics | Most of them fleece me (Rock DJ; performing artist: Robbie Williams) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Golden Fleece (1918) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Golden Fleece. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The modern argonauts with their golden "fleece". Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Abraham Lincoln | These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Fleece" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 88.27% of the time. "Fleece" is used about 179 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 88.27% | 158 | 24,965 |
| Noun (proper) | 7.82% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 2.79% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.12% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 179 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "fleece". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Gazzam | N/A | Biblical | The fleece of them |
| Gozan | N/A | Biblical | Fleece |
| Shaashgaz | N/A | Biblical | He that presses the fleece |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expressions using "fleece": China fleece vine ♦ Fleece wool ♦ golden fleece ♦ the golden fleece. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "fleece": fleece-ing, fleece-lined. | |
Ending with "fleece": fine-fleece, Fl-fleece. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
fleece jacket | 571 | fleece hat | 23 |
fleece | 398 | blanket fleece personalized | 23 |
fleece blanket | 212 | fleece pullover | 21 |
fleece fabric | 203 | alpinestars star fleece | 21 |
polar fleece | 90 | star fleece | 20 |
fleece pants | 82 | fleece hand tied | 20 |
fleece vest | 78 | anti fleece pil | 20 |
fleece throw | 54 | fleece clothing | 19 |
fleece baby blanket | 50 | blanket fleece make | 15 |
golden fleece | 48 | fleece sleeping bag | 13 |
fleece fabric wholesale | 42 | womens fleece jacket | 13 |
the north face fleece | 39 | fleece blanket pattern | 13 |
polar fleece fabric | 39 | man fleece jacket | 12 |
embroidered fleece | 35 | fleece sweatshirt | 12 |
fleece material | 33 | micro fleece | 11 |
blanket fleece no sew | 33 | golden fleece retirement plan | 11 |
polar fleece blanket | 28 | polartec fleece | 10 |
jason the golden fleece | 27 | blanket fleece making | 10 |
patagonia fleece | 26 | fleece wholesale | 10 |
polar fleece jacket | 24 | fleece pillow | 10 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "fleece"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | afset (demand, sale). (various references) | |
Albanian | zhvat (bleed, cadge, claw back, coax, devour, extort, filch, hog, Rob, spoil, squeeze, Winkle, worm, wrest), shtëllungë (bushy, cloud, Eddy, hank, plume, tow), qethje (clip, clipping, crop, shear, shearing), qeth (clip, cut, edge, shave, shear, whittle down), mashtroj (bamboozle, befool, beguile, besot, bilk, cheat, chicane, chisel, cozen, deceive, defalcate, defraud, delude, diddle, do, finagle, flimflam, fob, fool, fudge, gyp, hocus, hoodwink, hose, impose, jockey, juggle, lead on, mislead, mump, nobble, overreach, palter, queer, ready up, shortchange, swindle, take advantage of, take for a ride), lesh i bagëtisë, grabit (amputate, depredate, deprive, despoil, flay, loot, rabble, ransack, Raven, ravish, reave, reive, rent, rip off, Rob, sack, subtract), cohë me push. (various references) | |
Arabic | كتلة ناعمة من شيء كالصوف, ندف ثلج, سلب (bereave, depredation, desiccation, despoil, dispossess, dispossession, divest, evisceration, flay, harrow, loot, looting, maraud, milk, pillage, piracy, plunder, plundering, raid, ransack, rape, rapine, ravish, ravishment, rejoice, riffle, rifle, rob, robbery, sack, skin, spoil, spoliation, steal, stick up, strip), سحابة بيضاء, صوف الخراف, جزة صوف, جز (clip, clipping, mow, shear, shear off). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | стрижа овце, скубя (flay, pluck, pluck off, pluck up, pull, rook, soak), руно (fell, hair, wool), рошава коса (mop, shag), оскубвам (deplume, displume, gaff, pick, pluck, pluck out, plume, pull, rush, shear, tear out), осейвам (intersperse, set, strew), ограбвам (amass by robbery, loot, mug, pill, pillage, plunder, prey, pull, rip off), мек вълнен плат (flannel, swan-skin), буйна коса. (various references) | |
Chinese | 脧 (extort, reduce), 羊毛 (wool, woolen). (various references) | |
Czech | ovèí vlna (sheep's wool). (various references) | |
Danish | faarepels, fåreskind med uld, fårepels, uldskind, pels (fur, fur coat, fur piece). (various references) | |
Dutch | vlies (diaphragm, husk, web), vacht,vlies, snýden (castrate, cut, slice), afzetten (amputate, garnish, put off, shut off, stop, trim, turn off). (various references) | |
Esperanto | tropagigi, preztrompi. (various references) | |
Finnish | villat, talja (block, fur, hide, pelt, skin), nylkeä (flay, overcharge, skin), lampaan villavuota, kiskoa liikaa (overcharge). (various references) | |
French | toison. (various references) | |
Frisian | snije (to snow), in poat útlûke. (various references) | |
German | vlies. (various references) | |
Greek | πόκος, τολύπη ερίου, απογυμνώ (dismantle, strip), απαλή μάλλινη μάζα, αρνοπόκι, ποκάρι (fleece wool), δέρας, προβιά (roan, skin), κουρεύω (shear, clip), μαλλί (wool), μαλλί προβάτου, βέλο (veil), στρώμα ινών (cord), έριο (sheep's wool), έριον, πάπλωμα ινών. (various references) | |
Hebrew | גזה (clip, shorn wool), גז (shearing, shorn wool), צמר חי, צמר (wool). (various references) | |
Hungarian | gyapjú (wool), báránybunda. (various references) | |
Italian | vello (fell). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 裏毛 (fleece lining), 裏毛 (fleece lining). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | うらけ (fleece lining). (various references) | |
Korean | 양털. (various references) | |
Manx | loamrey (fell, shear, shearing), fanney (dress down, excoriation, flay, fly-fishing, scalp, skin, skinning, slash, slashing, slating, soak, tirade), eaddagh loamragh. (various references) | |
Norwegian | flå (flay), ull (wool), skinn (hide), plyndre (loot), klippe (clip, cut, shear). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eeceflay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | velo. (various references) | |
Romanian | stoarce (crush, drain, exhaust, express, extort, extort from, force, milk, pinch, press, screw, soak, squeeze, swindle, twist, wring), prãda (despoil, flay, gut, knock off, loot, pillage, plunder, prey, ransack, Raven, reave, Rob, ruin, sack, spoil), ninsoare abundentã, lefteri, lânã de la o singurã oaie, lânã (coat, wool), jupui (abrade, bark, excoriate, flay, gall, graze, Harry, Peel, pill, raw, rip off, Rob, scratch, skin, soak, strip, wound), jumuli (disrobe, pick, pick off, pluck, Rob, shave, shear), jefui (burgle, flay, Harry, knock off, loot, maraud, mug, pillage, prey, ransack, Raven, reave, Rob, scathe, spoil), jecmãni (flay), escroca (cheat, chouse, fiddle, gouge, gull, humbug, rook, swindle, victimize), claie (crowd, hayrick, haystack, heap, Rick, shock, snag, stack), beli (bark, flay, Rob, skin), înveli (case, cover, encase, enfold, enshroud, envelop, enwrap, lap, mantle, muffle, roof, sheathe, tuck, wrap). (various references) | |
Russian | стричь овец (shear), руно, шерсть (wool), обобрать (pick), ободрать (skin, tear), обдирать руно, обдирать (flay, fleeced, flench, flense, rip off, victimize). (various references) | |
Scottish | rùsg (a fleece, external covering, rind, skin). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | vuna (pelage, wool), runo, ošišati (crop, cut, trim), izmusti (milk). (various references) | |
Spanish | vellón, estafar (diddle). (various references) | |
Swedish | ull (wool), skinna (flay, skin), päls (fur). (various references) | |
Thai | ผ้าขนแกะ, ปอกลอก, ขนแกะ. (various references) | |
Turkish | yün gibi örtmek, tüylü kumaş, soyup soğana çevirmek (rifle, take smb. to the cleaners), soymak (bare, bark, burglarize, burgle, clean out, decorticate, denude, deplume, despoil, disrobe, divest, flay, heist, hold up, housebreak, knock off, pare, Peel, pluck, plunder, pull off, rifle, rip off, Rob, roll, sack, shave, shear, skin, stick up, strip, unclothe, undress, unrobe), pösteki (sheepskin), koyun postu (sheepskin), kazıklamak (bunco, cheat, chisel, clip, do smb. brown, fob, fob smb. off, gouge, have smb. on, jew, Nick, overcharge, put it on, put it over on, rook, rush, sell, skin, soak, sting, stuff smb., take for a ride), kaplamak (back, bestrew, canopy, carpet, case, clothe, coat, cover, encrust, envelop, face, fair, film, film over, hang, incrust, infest, line, overgrow, overlap, overspread, overwhelm, plate, recap, revet, sheathe, sheet, shield, smother in, smother with, suffuse, take, thread, upholster, veneer, wreathe), kırkmak (shear, tag), beyaz ve yumuşak örtü. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | стригти овець, овеча вовна, перисто-купчасті хмари. (various references) | |
Welsh | cnuf, cnu, cneifio (shear), cnaif (shearing). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | aka, bar. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | adtondebitis, adtondent, adtondentur, adtonsi, comae, comam, comas, lana, lanae, lanam, lanarum, lanis, velius, velius, velieris, vellere, velleribus, velleris, vellus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Job Chapter 31, Verse 20 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Adunatoi de ei mh euloghsan me apo de kouraV amnwn mou eqermanqhsan oi wmoi autwn |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Si non benedixerunt mihi latera eius et de velleribus ovium mearum calefactus est |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And of the flees of my shep he is chaufid; |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | If his loins have not blessed me, and if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep; |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | If his back did not give me a blessing, and the wool of my sheep did not make him warm; |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Job Chapter 31, Verse 20 |
| Albanian | në rast se ijet e tij nuk më kanë bekuar, dhe nuk është ngrohur me leshin e qengjave të mi, |
| Cebuano | Kong ang iyang hawak wala magpanalangin kanako, Ug kong siya wala kainiti tungod sa balhibo sa akong carnero; |
| Chinese | 我 若 不 使 他 因 我 羊 的 毛 得 煖 、 為 我 祝 福 ． |
| Croatian | a da mu bedra ne blagosloviše mene kad se runom mojih ovaca ogrija? |
| Danish | visselig nej, hans Hofter velsigned mig, når han varmed sig i Uld af mine Lam. |
| Dutch | Zo zijn lenden mij niet gezegend hebben, toen hij van de vellen mijner lammeren verwarmd werd; |
| Finnish | jos hänen lanteensa eivät minua siunanneet eikä hän saanut lämmitellä minun karitsaini villoilla, |
| French | Sans que ses reins m`aient béni, Sans qu`il ait été réchauffé par la toison de mes agneaux; |
| German | Haben mich nicht gesegnet seine Lenden, da er von den Fellen meiner Lämmer erwärmt ward? |
| Haitian Creole | mwen ba yo rad pou mete sou yo, mwen pran lenn sou do mouton m' pou m' ba yo chofe. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | kuhangatkan dia dengan kain wol dari dombaku sendiri, maka ia akan memuji aku dengan segenap hati. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | lalu pinggangnya tiada mendoakan berkat atasku sebab bulu anak dombaku sudah memberi suhu kepadanya; |
| Italian | se non hanno dovuto benedirmi i suoi fianchi, o con la lana dei miei agnelli non si è riscaldato; |
| Maori | Ki te mea kihai tona hope i whakapai ki ahau, a kihai ia i mahana i nga huruhuru o taku kahui: |
| Norwegian | Måtte ikke hans lender velsigne mig, fordi han fikk varme sig med ull av mine får? |
| Portuguese | se os seus lombos não me abençoaram, se ele não se aquentava com os velos dos meus cordeiros; |
| Rumanian | fqrq ca inima lui sq mq fi binecuvkntat, fqrq sq fi fost kncqlzit de lkna mieilor mei; |
| Russian | ОЕ ВМБЗПУМПЧМСМЙ МЙ НЕОС ЮТЕУМБ ЕЗП, Й ОЕ ВЩМ МЙ ПО УПЗТЕФ ЫЕТУФША ПЧЕГ НПЙИ? |
| Swedish | Måste ej fastmer hans länd välsigna mig, och fick han ej värma sig i ull av mina lamm? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "fleece": fleeced, fleecer, fleecers, fleeces. (additional references) | |
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"Fleece" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Fcegce, feace, feldene, Feleke, felice, feluce, fieice, filleca, fleace, fleae, flease, flec, flece, flect, fleec, fleecen, fleecer, fleeche, fleecie, fleege, fleek, fleete, flege, Flegere, flence, flice, Fliegel, Fliessen, flmech, Flyco, Freece, sleece. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "fleece" (pronounced flē"s) |
| 3 | -l ē" s | lease, police, release. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-e-e-f-l" | |
-2 letters: clef, feel, flee. | |
-3 letters: cee, cel, eel, elf, fee, lee. | |
-4 letters: ef, el. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-e-e-f-l" | |
+1 letter: fleeced, fleecer, fleeces. | |
+2 letters: fleecers, fleeched, fleeches, fleecier. | |
+3 letters: beflecked, deflected, effluence, feculence, fenceless, flechette, fleeciest, freelance, reflected, refluence. | |
+4 letters: deflective, effaceable, effloresce, effluences, effulgence, feculences, fieldpiece, flechettes, freelanced, freelancer, freelances, reflective, refluences, refulgence. | |
+5 letters: cheerfuller, defectively, deflectable, effectively, effloresced, effloresces, effulgences, electrified, electrifies, enforceable, fieldpieces, florescence, freelancers, genuflected, maleficence, peacefuller, perfectible, reflectance, refulgences. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
