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fleeced

[fleest]
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adjective
  1. having a fleece of a specified kind (usually used in combination): a thick-fleeced animal.
  2. covered with fleece or a fleecelike material.
  3. (of a fabric) having a softly napped surface.
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Origin of fleeced

First recorded in 1520–30; fleece + -ed3
Related formsun·fleeced, adjective

fleece

[flees]
noun
  1. the coat of wool that covers a sheep or a similar animal.
  2. the wool shorn from a sheep at one shearing.
  3. something resembling a fleece: a fleece of clouds in a blue sky.
  4. a fabric with a soft, silky pile, used for warmth, as for lining garments.
  5. the soft nap or pile of such a fabric.
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verb (used with object), fleeced, fleec·ing.
  1. to deprive of money or belongings by fraud, hoax, or the like; swindle: He fleeced the stranger of several dollars.
  2. to remove the fleece of (a sheep).
  3. to overspread, as with a fleece; fleck with fleecelike masses: a host of clouds fleecing the summer sky.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for fleeced

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • 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
  1. the coat of wool that covers the body of a sheep or similar animal and consists of a mass of crinkly hairs
  2. the wool removed from a single sheep
  3. something resembling a fleece in texture or warmth
  4. sheepskin or a fabric with soft pile, used as a lining for coats, etc
  5. a warm polyester fabric with a brushed nap, used for outdoor garments
  6. a jacket or top made from such a fabric
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verb (tr)
  1. to defraud or charge exorbitantly; swindle
  2. another term for shear (def. 1)
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Word Origin

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

v.

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.

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fleece

n.

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").

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper