fleabite

[ flee-bahyt ]

/ ˈfliˌbaɪt /

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noun

the bite of a flea.

the red spot caused by the bite of a flea.

any petty annoyance or irritation, as a trifling wound.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of fleabite

First recorded in 1400–50, fleabite is from late Middle English flee byte. See flea, bite

Words nearby fleabite

fldxt, flea, fleabag, fleabane, flea beetle, fleabite, flea-bitten, flea collar, flea-flicker, fleam, flea market

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fleabite in a sentence

But punctilli are infections commonly sanguineous, as if they had arisen from a fleabite, only they remain continually.
A History of Epidemics in Britain (Volume I of II)|Charles Creighton
The water problem is still unsolved, and we get very thirsty; but thirst is a small fleabite, after all.
Letters to Helen|Keith Henderson
A thousand cars are a fleabite compared with the daily movement in the busy season.
The Country's Need of Greater Railway Facilities and Terminals|James Jerome Hill
Dr. Schlesien replied with an Atlas shrug under fleabite to the insensately infantile interrogation.
One of Our Conquerors, Complete|George Meredith

But that expense was a fleabite when compared with the cost of the structural alterations that were now fairly in hand.
Mrs. Thompson|William Babington Maxwell

British Dictionary definitions for fleabite

fleabite

/ (ˈfliːˌbaɪt) /

noun

the bite of a flea

a slight or trifling annoyance or discomfort

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