flense
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to strip the blubber or the skin from (a whale, seal, etc.).
-
to strip off (blubber or skin).
verb
Other Word Forms
- flenser noun
Etymology
Origin of flense
1805–15; < Danish flense or Dutch flensen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
According to Hussey, the harbor had a “most appalling stench” from the dead whales moored in the harbor awaiting flensing.
From Literature
"The Offer," which confuses a baring-it-all origin story with a botched whale flensing, does not substantively change that.
From Salon
He may create clothes capable of spooking you with their Sweeney Todd aura or look of flensed anatomies.
From New York Times
The new book is bloated and unwieldy, however; it lacks the blunt power of its predecessor, which was stark and swift, flensed of artifice.
From New York Times
Dad slammed drums in and out of the blaster, a bellowing beast that flensed 55-gallon steel drums to bare metal by bombarding them with steel shot.
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
