fleak

English
WOTD – 12 March 2022

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

A variant of flake (noun, verb).[1][2]

Noun

fleak (plural fleaks)

  1. (obsolete except British, dialectal) Synonym of flake
    1. A small, light piece that is only loosely joined to something else, and which has a tendency to detach.
      • 1653, Henry More, “Arguments of Divine Providence Drawn from the Usefulness of Plants”, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC, book I, page 73:
        The uſes indeed of the forenamed Plants are ſo univerſall, and take place ſo in every affaire of Man, that if it vvere lavvfull to be a little merry in ſo ſerious a matter, a man might not unfittingly apply that verſe of the Poet [Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from the Black Sea), book IV, 3-35] to this ſo generall a commodity; / Omnia ſunt homini tenui pendentia filo. / That all the buſineſſes of Men do very much depend upon theſe little long fleaks or threds of Hempe and Flaxa.
      • 1741 January–March, Eustachio Zanotti, “VII. A Collection of the Observations of the Remarkable Red Lights Seen in the Air on Dec. 5. 1737. Sent from Different Places to the Royal Society. [3. Description of an Aurora Borealis Observed at the Observatory of the Institute of Bononia, the Night of the 5⁄16 of December 1737. […]]”, in T. S., transl., Philosophical Transactions. Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours, of the Ingenious, in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume XLI, part II, number 459, London: […] T. Woodward, and C. Davis, […] ; printers to the Royal Society, published 1744, →OCLC, page 600:
        Above that Region the Wind blew at South-weſt by South, as appeared by ſome ſmall Fleaks of Clouds coming from that Quarter.
    2. A thin piece that is chipped or peeled off from the surface of something else.
      • 1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Chamæleon”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 116:
        Plutarke alſo calleth this beaſt a meticulous and fearefull beaſt, and in this cauſe concludeth the change of his colour, not as ſome ſay, to auoyde and deceiue the beholders and to vvorke out his ovvne happineuſſe, but for meere dread and terrour. […] But I for my part doe aſſigne the true cauſe to bee in the thinneſſe of their skinne, and therefore may eaſily take impreſſion of any colour, like to a thin fleake of a horne, vvhich being layde ouer blacke, ſeemeth blacke, and ſo ouer other colours: […]
      • 1722, W[illiam] Gibson, “Of Retraits and Pricks in the Foot”, in The Farrier’s New Guide. […], 3rd edition, London: […] S. Palmer, for William Taylor, […], →OCLC, page 252:
        Now, it is very demonſtrable from vvhat has been ſaid, that all ſuch Effects may be produc'd by a Prick of a Nail, a Stub, or a Fleak, when it ſticks in thoſe tender ſenſible Parts, […] [I]f there be any Fleak or Piece of Nail remaining in the Quick, vvhich may be knovvn by examining the Nail you have pull'd out, or by the continued Pain, with a conſtant Diſcharge of matter, you may introduce a Piece of dry Spunge, made in form of a Tent, vvith a Thread dravvn through the End of it: […]
    3. A thin piece that the flesh of some animals (such as fish) tends to break into.
Translations
synonym of flake — see flake

Verb

fleak (third-person singular simple present fleaks, present participle fleaking, simple past and past participle fleaked)

  1. (transitive, obsolete, rare) Synonym of flake (“to remove (something) in fleaks or flakes (small chips or pieces)”)
    • 1805 August 23, Meriwether Lewis, “[August 23d Friday 1805]”, in Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, edited by Gary E. Moulton, The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark: Through the Rockies to the Cascades, Nebraska edition, volume 5, Lincoln, Neb., London: University of Nebraska Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 149:
      [M]any of them made use of flint for knives, […] this flint is of no regular form, and if they can only obtain a part of it, an inch or two in length that will cut they are satisfyed, they renew the edge by fleaking off the flint by means of the point of an Elk's or deer's horn.
    • [1818, White Kennett, [B. Bandinel], “[A Glossary to Explain the Original, the Acceptation, and Obsoleteness, of Words and Phrases; and to Shew the Rise, Practice, and Alteration of Customs, Laws, and Manners.] Flesche-Axe”, in Parochial Antiquities Attempted in the History of Ambrosden, Burcester, and Other Adjacent parts in the Counties of Oxford and Bucks. […], new edition, volume II, London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, column 2:
      Whence to flea, or to fleak, i.e. to pull off the skin. A school phrase, to be fleaked off, i.e. to have the skin fetched off by whipping.]
    • 1915 November 4, “Old Vet” [pseudonym], “Reminiscences of an old man. Experiences as a sharp shooter and trials around Vicksburg.”, in The Cullman Tribune, volume 42, number 4, Cullman, Ala.: J. C. Norwood, →OCLC, page 1, column 1:
      [T]hey sent a perfect hail of bullets at us and we wasn't no ways disposed to stay there for them bullets were whispering to us about the head and fleaking up dirt around us and we run just because we could not fly, […]

Etymology 2

A variant of fleck (verb).

Verb

fleak (third-person singular simple present fleaks, present participle fleaking, simple past and past participle fleaked)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) Synonym of fleck
    • 1854, James Hannay, “Lecture V. Political Satire and Squibs.—Burns.”, in Satire and Satirists. Six Lectures, London: David Bogue, […], →OCLC, page 201:
      [Edward] Young's Satires have been quite eclipsed by the fame of his Night Thoughts; a work the sublimity and dark splendour of which is fleaked with the wit and fancy which were essential constituents of his mind.
    • 1855, James Hannay, “Eustace Pays a Visit to Captain Turberville, R.N., and Sees Henry Mildew, Esq.”, in Eustace Conyers. […], volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 69:
      [W]hat am I here for? Vividly, but still calmly, he felt this in every nerve; and hope—fleaked, of course, by the gleams of tenderness and regret, which strong men feel as much as weak ones, and know that they must conquer—was burning in him like a central fire, as he turned his pony's head home.
    • 1857, Hugh Miller, “Lecture Fourth. The Mosaic Vision of Creation.”, in The Testimony of the Rocks; or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed, Edinburgh: Thomas Constable & Co.; Shepherd & Elliot; London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co., →OCLC, pages 182–183:
      Even Jupiter, […] is known chiefly by the dark shifting bands that, fleaking his surface in the line of his trade-winds, belong not to his body, but to his thick dark covering.
    • 1867 December 28, “Horticultural Items”, in The Prairie Farmer: A Weekly Journal of Agriculture, Horticulture, Home Interests, Gen. News, Markets, &c., volume 20, number 26 (New Series), Chicago, Ill.: Prairie Farmer Co., →OCLC, page 403, column 2:
      The leaves are broader zoned with bright redish brown and deep chocolate, and within the zone fleaked with yellow and green, the outer margin being similarly colored.
    • 1896, George H. Puntenney, chapter 4, in History of the Thirty-seventh Regiment of Indiana Infantry Volunteers: Its Organization, Campaigns, and Battles—Sept., ’61–Oct., ’64, Rushville, Ind.: Jacksonian Book and Job Department, →OCLC, page 26:
      Just then a messenger arrived on a horse fleaked with foam, with orders for the Regiment to march back with all haste to Athens, as an attack was expected the next morning.

References
  1. “flake, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “flake1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. “flake, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021; “flake1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams
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