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flay

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flay¹

  • /fleɪ/
  • /fliː/ dialectal

Sounds like vlei (one pronunciation) · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

From Middle English flayen, flaien, fleien, from Old English flīeġan ("to cause to fly, put to flight, frighten"), from Proto-Germanic *flaugijaną (“to let fly, cause to fly”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”).

verb flays · flaying · flayed · fla · fley

  1. Northern England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).
  2. Northern England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive To frighten; scare; terrify. If they'd let me have my way, I could have flayed him into shape
  3. Northern England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, intransitive To be fear-stricken.

noun flays · fla · fley · flee · fly · fleg

  1. Northern England, Scotland, UK, dialectal A fright; a scare.
  2. Northern England, Scotland, UK, dialectal Fear; a source of fear; a formidable matter; a fearsome or repellent-looking person.

flay²

  • /fleɪ/
  • /fliː/ dialectal

Sounds like vlei (one pronunciation) · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

From Middle English flen, from Old English flēan, from Proto-West Germanic *flahan, from Proto-Germanic *flahaną.

verb flays · flaying · flayed · flaid · flew

  1. To strip the skin off; to skin. The farmer flayed him as he had the bear, and so he had both bear-skin and fox-skin.

    Similar: fleece, flense, skin

  2. To lash or whip.

Flay³

proper noun Flays

  1. A surname.

Translations

Every language

verb to strip skin off

Españoldesollar, despellejar
日本語剥ぐ hagu, 剥ぎ取る hagitoru
Portuguêsesfolar
Françaisécorcher
Deutschhäuten
Italianospellare
Românăbeli
Русскийсвежева́ть sveževátʹ, сдира́ть шку́ру sdirátʹ škúru
العربيةسَلَخَ salaḵa

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MLA

"flay." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/flay. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

flay. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/flay

Chicago

"flay." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/flay.

BibTeX
@misc{flay_2026,
  title = {flay},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/flay},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}