Adjacent Words

Flea definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FLEA, n. [See Flee and Fly.]
An insect of the genus Pulex. It has two eyes and six feet; the feelers are like threads; the rostrum is inflected, setaceous, and armed with a string. The flea is remarkable for its agility, leaping to a surprising distance, and its bite is very troublesome.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English fle, from Old English fl?a; akin to Old High German fl?h flea Date: before 12th century any of an order (Siphonaptera) of small wingless bloodsucking insects that have a hard laterally compressed body and legs adapted to leaping and that feed on warm-blooded animals

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a small wingless jumping insect of the order Siphonaptera, feeding on human and other blood. 2 a (in full flea beetle) a small jumping beetle infesting hops, cabbages, etc. b (in full water flea) daphnia. Phrases and idioms: flea-bite 1 the bite of a flea. 2 a trivial injury or inconvenience. flea-bitten 1 bitten by or infested with fleas. 2 shabby. flea-bug US = FLEA 2a. flea-circus a show of performing fleas. flea-collar an insecticidal collar for pets. a flea in one's ear a sharp reproof. flea market a street market selling second-hand goods etc. flea-pit a dingy dirty place, esp. a run-down cinema. flea-wort any of several plants supposed to drive away fleas. Etymology: OE flea, fleah f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flea Flea, v. t. [See Flay.] To flay. [Obs.] He will be fleaced first And horse collars made of's skin. --J. Fletcher.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flea Flea, n. [OE. fle, flee, AS. fle['a], fle['a]h; akin to D. ?, OHG. fl?h, G. floh, Icel. fl?, Russ. blocha; prob. from the root of E. flee. ? 84. See Flee.] (Zo["o]l.) An insect belonging to the genus Pulex, of the order Aphaniptera. Fleas are destitute of wings, but have the power of leaping energetically. The bite is poisonous to most persons. The human flea (Pulex irritans), abundant in Europe, is rare in America, where the dog flea (P. canis) takes its place. See Aphaniptera, and Dog flea. See Illustration in Appendix. A flea in the ear, an unwelcome hint or unexpected reply, annoying like a flea; an irritating repulse; as, to put a flea in one's ear; to go away with a flea in one's ear. Beach flea, Black flea, etc. See under Beach, etc.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(fleas) A flea is a very small jumping insect that has no wings and feeds on the blood of humans or animals. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

David at the cave of Adullam thus addressed his persecutor Saul (1 Sam. 24:14): "After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea?" He thus speaks of himself as the poor, contemptible object of the monarch's pursuit, a "worthy object truly for an expedition of the king of Israel with his picked troops!" This insect is in Eastern language the popular emblem of insignificance. In 1 Sam. 26:20 the LXX. read "come out to seek my life" instead of "to seek a flea."

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fle (par`osh; compare Arabic barghut, "flea," and barghash, "mosquito" (1Sa 24:14; 26:20); kinnim (Ex 8:16), "lice," the Revised Version, margin "sandflies" or "fleas"; Septuagint skniphes, probably best rendered "gnat"; see GNAT; LICE):

In 1Sa 24 Saul seeks David in the wilderness of En-gedi, and David, after cutting off the skirt of Saul's robe in the cave, calls out to him, "After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea" (24:14). Again in 1Sa 26:20 Saul seeks David in the wilderness of Ziph, and David after taking the spear and cruse from beside Saul while he slept, cries out to him, ".... the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains." The flea is here used as a symbol of David's insignificance, coupled perhaps, in the second passage, with a thought of the difficulty that Saul had in laying hands on him. In Encyclopedia Biblica Cheyne finds fault with a similar interpretation given in DB on the ground that it is absurd that David should refer to hunting "a single flea," and proposes to change par`osh 'echadh "a flea," to pere' midhbar, "wild ass of the desert." The writer will only say that no observant resident of Palestine would consider the textual alteration to be called for.

Linnaeus recognized two species of flea, Pulex irritans, the common parasite of man, and Pulex (Sarcopsylla) penetrans, the tropical and sub-tropical jigger flea. More than a hundred species are now listed, and the recent discovery that certain fleas are instrumental in the transmission of the plague has given a new impetus to the study of these tiny pests. A flea that is often commoner in houses than Pulex irritans is the "dog and cat flea," variously known as Pulex serraticeps, Pulex canis, Pulex felis or Ctenocephalus canis.

Alfred Ely Day

Moby Thesaurus

broad jumper, bucking bronco, buckjumper, cat flea, chigoe, cockroach, crab, dog flea, frog, gazelle, goat, grasshopper, grayback, high jumper, hopper, hurdle racer, hurdler, jackrabbit, jigger, jumper, jumping bean, jumping jack, kangaroo, leaper, louse, mite, nit, parasite, pole vaulter, red bug, roach, salmon, sand flea, stag, sunfisher, timber topper, vaulter, vermin, weevil