fleece

Etymology

From Middle English flees, flese, flus, fleos, from Old English flēos, flīes, flȳs, from Proto-Germanic *fleusaz.

Pronunciation

• (UK/US) IPA^(key): /fliːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːs

Noun

fleece (countable and uncountable, plural fleeces)

1. (uncountable) Hair or wool of a sheep or similar animal
2. (uncountable) Insulating skin with the wool attached
3. (countable) A textile similar to velvet, but with a longer pile that gives it a softness and a higher sheen.
4. (countable) An insulating wooly jacket
5. (roofing) Mat or felts composed of fibers, sometimes used as a membrane backer.
6. Any soft woolly covering resembling a fleece.
7. The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine.

Verb

fleece (third-person singular simple present fleeces, present participle fleecing, simple past and past participle fleeced)

1. (transitive) To con or trick (someone) out of money.

   There is a difference between bookmaking, an entirely respectable profession, and fleecing people, which isn’t.

   ^[1]

2. (transitive) To shear the fleece from (a sheep or other animal).

   During spring shearing we have to fleece all the sheep in just a few days.

3. (transitive) To cover with, or as if with, wool.

Etymology

Borrowed from English fleece.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfliːsi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈfliːs/ (often in compound terms)

Noun

fleece

1. Alternative spelling of fliisi