fleabite

[ flee-bahyt ]

/ ˈfliˌbaɪt /

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.

Nearby words

flea market, flea-bitten, flea-flicker, fleabag, fleabane, fleabite, fleam, fleapit, fleawort, flecainide acetate, fleck

Origin of fleabite

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

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

Examples from the Web for fleabite

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
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
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
“Why, that was only a fleabite, youngster,” he replied laughing.
Afloat at Last|John Conroy Hutcheson

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