flea-bitten

[ flee-bit-n ]

/ ˈfliˌbɪt 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

I found a pair of flea-bitten gray Flemish mares, weighing about twenty-eight hundred pounds.
The Fat of the Land|John Williams Streeter
"I guess that's the best rabbit dog anywhere around here," he said, as a flea-bitten cur trotted past.
A Yankee from the West|Opie Read
Let the flea-bitten old devil go, she's brought trouble enough already.
The Mahatma and the Hare|H. Rider Haggard
This was his remark: "There was never a flea-bitten mare that was a poor horse."
The Fat of the Land|John Williams Streeter

As they left the bank a cowboy rode up on a flea-bitten roan that was lathered with sweat, sadly roweled and leg-weary.
Rimrock Trail|J. Allan Dunn

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

flea-bitten

adjective

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Origin of flea-bitten

Examples from the Web for flea-bitten

flea-bitten

adjective