fley
Americanverb
verb
-
to be afraid or cause to be afraid
-
(tr) to frighten away; scare
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fley
1175–1225; Middle English flaien, fleien, Old English -flīgan (in ā-flȳgan ); cognate with Old Norse fleygia to cause to fly. Cf. fly 2
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.
See Examples For:
It will hae been some callant trying to fley us, that's a'.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 383, September 1847 by Various
Waefu' Want and Hunger fley me, Glowrin' by the hallan en'; Sair I fecht them at the door, But aye I'm eerie they come ben.
From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert
Have you not reason to waye that whatsoever ether Virgil did write of his gnatt or Ovid of his fley was all covertly to declare abuse?...
From Rhetoric and Poetry in the Renaissance A Study of Rhetorical Terms in English Renaissance Literary Criticism by Clark, Donald Lemen
Let's hope you're a better guide than constable, young man, or, as that old fellow said in the road this morning, we'll fley the bird and not grip him.
From The Shadow of a Crime A Cumbrian Romance by Caine, Hall, Sir
“It will hae been some callant trying to fley us, that’s a’.
From Tales from Blackwood Volume 4 by Various
He wasnae easy fleyed, an’ gaed straucht up to the wa’s; an’ what suld he find there but a man, or the appearance of a man, sittin’ in the inside upon a grave.
From Merry Men by Stevenson, Robert Louis
He wasna easy fleyed, an' gaed straucht up to the wa's; and what suld he find there but a man, or the appearance of a man, sittin' in the inside upon a grave.
From Stories by English Authors: Scotland (Selected by Scribners) by Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew)
And you look fleyed: there’s nothing here to scare you: We’re quiet folk at Krindlesyke.
From Krindlesyke by Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson
He wasnae easy fleyed, an' gaed straucht up to the wa's; and what suld he find there but a man, or the appearance of a man, sittin' in the inside upon a grave.
From Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4) Ghost Stories by French, Joseph Lewis
He wasna easy fleyed, an’ gaed straucht up to the wa’s; an’ what suld he find there but a man, or the appearance o’ a man, sittin’ in the inside upon a grave.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 5 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
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.
