fleeced

[fleest]

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adjective

having a fleece of a specified kind (usually used in combination): a thick-fleeced animal.

covered with fleece or a fleecelike material.

(of a fabric) having a softly napped surface.

Origin of fleeced

First recorded in 1520–30; fleece + -ed³

Related formsun·fleeced, adjective

fleece

[flees]

noun

the coat of wool that covers a sheep or a similar animal.

the wool shorn from a sheep at one shearing.

something resembling a fleece: a fleece of clouds in a blue sky.

a fabric with a soft, silky pile, used for warmth, as for lining garments.

the soft nap or pile of such a fabric.

verb (used with object), fleeced, fleec·ing.

to deprive of money or belongings by fraud, hoax, or the like; swindle: He fleeced the stranger of several dollars.

to remove the fleece of (a sheep).

to overspread, as with a fleece; fleck with fleecelike masses: a host of clouds fleecing the summer sky.

Origin of fleece

before 1000; Middle English flees, Old English flēos, flȳs; cognate with Middle Dutch vlies, Middle High German vlius, German Vlies

Related formsfleece·a·ble, adjectivefleece·less, adjectivefleece·like, adjectivefleec·er, noun

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

Related Words for fleeced

cheat, gouge, overcharge, defraud, swindle, shaft, rook, clip, rob, burn, pluck, milk, flimflam, rifle, hustle, mulct, strip, despoil, cozen, bleed

Examples from the Web for fleeced

Historical Examples of fleeced

Lambs, it is true, gambol, but in due time they all get fleeced.
Crankisms
Lisle de Vaux Matthewman
Some of the insiders made millions; the public was fleeced of millions.
Frenzied Finance
Thomas W. Lawson
Neither educated nor commercialized, he is fleeced by the buyers.
A Poor Man's House
Stephen Sydney Reynolds
The fleeced flock is to discover finally what is done with its wool.
The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1 (of 6)
Hippolyte A. Taine
He was not represented in the Raad (legislature) that oppressed him and fleeced him.
Following the Equator, Complete
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

British Dictionary definitions for fleeced

fleece

noun

the coat of wool that covers the body of a sheep or similar animal and consists of a mass of crinkly hairs

the wool removed from a single sheep

something resembling a fleece in texture or warmth

sheepskin or a fabric with soft pile, used as a lining for coats, etc

a warm polyester fabric with a brushed nap, used for outdoor garments

a jacket or top made from such a fabric

verb (tr)

to defraud or charge exorbitantly; swindle

another term for shear (def. 1)

Word Origin for fleece

Old English flēos; related to Middle High German vlius, Dutch vlies fleece, Latin plūma feather, down

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

Word Origin and History for fleeced

fleece

1530s in the literal sense of "to strip a sheep of fleece;" 1570s in the figurative meaning "to cheat, swindle," from fleece (n.). Related: Fleeced; fleecing.

fleece

Old English fleos, from West Germanic *flusaz (cf. Middle Dutch vluus, Dutch vlies, Middle High German vlius, German Vlies), probably from PIE *pleus- "to pluck," also "a feather, fleece" (cf. Latin pluma "feather, down," Lithuanian plunksna "feather").