flay
- to strip off the skin or outer covering of.
- to criticize or scold with scathing severity.
- to deprive or strip of money or property.
Origin of flay
Synonyms for flay
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for flayed
Contemporary Examples of flayed
Or you can mount a flayed rabbit to hang in your living room while a chef turns its innards into a nose-to-tail feast.
In the central panel, Sen. Elizabeth Warren whispers into the ear of the Pope as Mitt Romney and hedge fund managers are flayed.
In half an hour it came out, flayed and roasted, black oily skin peeled from both sides.
Look, when I left Brothers and Sisters, I felt as if I were flayed alive.
Historical Examples of flayed
They have only to be flayed, and their skins inflated, and they will readily give us a passage.
AnabasisXenophon
Then they flayed the monster, and the next morning the hide was shown to his majesty.
Japanese Fairy WorldWilliam Elliot Griffis
She lived amongst them, a passive victim, quivering in every nerve, as if she were flayed.
ChanceJoseph Conrad
Their only clothing is a breechcloth and a short skirt of flayed bark.
Negritos of ZambalesWilliam Allan Reed
No doubt they would have flayed me alive, have sold my skin, and devoured, etc.
The Comedies of William CongreveWilliam Congreve
flay
- to strip off the skin or outer covering of, esp by whipping; skin
- to attack with savage criticism
- to strip of money or goods, esp by cheating or extortion
Word Origin for flay
Word Origin and History for flayed
flay
Old English flean "to skin" (strong verb, past tense flog, past participle flagen), from Proto-Germanic *flakhanan (cf. Middle Dutch vlaen, Old High German flahan, Old Norse fla), from PIE root *plak- (2) "to hit" (cf. Greek plessein "to strike," Lithuanian plešiu "to tear;" see plague (n.)). Related: Flayed; flaying.