flea-bitten

[flee-bit-n]

adjective

bitten by a flea or fleas.

infested with fleas.

shabby; dilapidated; wretched.

(of a horse) having a light-colored coat with small, dark spots or streaks.

Origin of flea-bitten

First recorded in 1560–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for flea-bitten

Historical Examples of flea-bitten

He led the flea-bitten mare to the cherry tree and tied her there.
Second Book of Tales
Eugene Field
All that Mallory could do was to admit that he was a flea-bitten what-he-said, and back away.
Excuse Me!
Rupert Hughes
You are worse than a dog, you old flinty-faced, flea-bitten scrub.
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I
Tobias Smollett
Even the village dogs were there, a legion of snarling, flea-bitten curs.
Harper's Round Table, July 9, 1895
Various
The flea-bitten gray was all horse, but he had a white-rimmed eye.
Partners of Chance
Henry Herbert Knibbs

British Dictionary definitions for flea-bitten

flea-bitten

adjective

bitten by or infested with fleas

informal shabby or decrepit; mean

(of the coat of a horse) having reddish-brown spots on a lighter background

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012