flesh

American  

[flesh] / flɛʃ /

noun

1. the soft substance of a human or other animal body, consisting of muscle and fat.

2. muscular and fatty tissue.

3. the muscular and fatty substance or tissue in animals that is consumed as food: often regarded specifically as meat while excluding seafood.

4. fatness; weight.

   Even after giving birth to her third child, she had very little excess flesh to lose.

5. the body, especially as distinguished from the spirit or soul.

   The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

6. the physical or animal nature of humankind as distinguished from its moral or spiritual nature.

   the needs of the flesh.

7. Archaic. humankind.

   It is a higher plane of existence, a domain of mystery, where flesh has never walked.

8. Archaic. living creatures generally.

   Are we not the guardians of all flesh, from the tiniest burrowers of earth to the grandest dwellers of ocean?

9. a person's family or relatives; flesh and blood.

   With the death of his sister, he is now the last of his lineal flesh.

10. Botany. the soft, pulpy portion of a fruit, vegetable, etc., as distinguished from the core, skin, shell, etc..

    After roasting the squash halves, scrape the flesh from the skin and mash with some cream and butter.

11. the surface of the human body; skin.

    A person with tender flesh should not expose it to direct sunlight.

12. (no longer in common use; now considered offensive) flesh color.

    The crayons they once called “flesh” have been labeled “peach” since 1962.

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verb (used with object)

• fleshes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fleshed,
  past participle,  past
• fleshing
  present participle

1. Archaic. to plunge (a weapon) into the flesh.

   With brazen might, she fleshed her sword into the dragon’s throat.

2. Hunting to feed (a hound or hawk) with flesh in order to make it more eager for the chase.

   It was hardly necessary to flesh those foxhounds—they were excited enough by their master’s call to the hunt.

3. Archaic. to incite and accustom (persons) to bloodshed or battle by an initial experience.

   Under his regime, it was not uncommon for very young boys to be fleshed as indoctrination into a culture of brutality.

4. Obsolete. to inflame the ardor or passions of by a foretaste.

   I shall not be easily fleshed—especially by those of questionable intent.

5. to overlay or cover (a skeleton or skeletal frame) with flesh or with a fleshlike substance.

   The bones appeared to have been fleshed, as if to simulate some sort of reconstruction.

6. to give dimension, substance, or reality to (often followed byout ).

   When Evan tells the story, it’s more fleshed, more compelling and believable.

   The playwright wrote pretty good characters, but the actors really fleshed them out.

7. to remove adhering flesh from (hides), in leather manufacture.

   The hides we work with have been thoroughly fleshed before we receive them.

8. Archaic. to satiate with flesh or fleshly enjoyments; surfeit; glut.

   Are you gentlemen quite fleshed?

verb phrase

1. flesh out

   1. to add details to or make more complete.

      She fleshed out her proposal considerably before presenting it to the committee for action.

   2. to gain weight.

      He realized to his dismay that he had fleshed out during the months of forced inactivity.

idioms

1. pound of flesh, something that strict terms or codes of justice demand is due, but can only be paid with great loss or suffering to the payer.

   These guys are notorious for providing loans that can never be paid off without a pound of flesh.

2. in the flesh, present and alive before one's eyes; in person.

   The movie star looked quite different in the flesh.

3. press the flesh, to shake hands, as with voters while campaigning.

   The senator is busy as ever pressing the flesh on the campaign trail.

flesh British  

/ flɛʃ /

noun

1. the soft part of the body of an animal or human, esp muscular tissue, as distinct from bone and viscera

2. informal excess weight; fat

3. archaic the edible tissue of animals as opposed to that of fish or, sometimes, fowl; meat

4. the thick usually soft part of a fruit or vegetable, as distinct from the skin, core, stone, etc

5. the human body and its physical or sensual nature as opposed to the soul or spirit

6. mankind in general

7. animate creatures in general

8. one's own family; kin (esp in the phrase one's own flesh and blood )

9. a yellowish-pink to greyish-yellow colour

10. Christian Science belief on the physical plane which is considered erroneous, esp the belief that matter has sensation

11. (modifier) tanning of or relating to the inner or under layer of a skin or hide

    a flesh split

12. in person; actually present

13. (esp of something ghostly) to frighten and horrify one

14. informal to shake hands, usually with large numbers of people, esp in political campaigning

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verb

1. (tr) hunting to stimulate the hunting instinct of (hounds or falcons) by giving them small quantities of raw flesh

2. to wound the flesh of with a weapon

3. archaic to accustom or incite to bloodshed or battle by initial experience

4. tanning to remove the flesh layer of (a hide or skin)

5. to fatten; fill out

flesh More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing flesh

• go the way of all flesh
• in person (the flesh)
• make one's flesh creep
• neither fish nor fowl (flesh)
• pound of flesh
• press the flesh
• spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
• thorn in one's flesh

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fleshless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• fleshing
  present
• fleshed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• flesh
  simple
• fleshes
  simple
• have fleshed
  perfect
• has fleshed
  perfect
• am fleshing
  progressive
• are fleshing
  progressive
• is fleshing
  progressive
• have been fleshing
  perfect progressive
• has been fleshing
  perfect progressive

Past

• fleshed
  simple
• had fleshed
  perfect
• was fleshing
  progressive
• were fleshing
  progressive
• had been fleshing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will flesh
  simple
• will have fleshed
  perfect
• will be fleshing
  progressive
• will have been fleshing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of flesh

First recorded before 900; Middle English flesh, flæsh, flash, Old English flǣsc; cognate with Old Frisian flēsk, Old High German fleisk, German Fleisch, Old Norse flesk “pork, ham, bacon”

Explanation

Flesh is the part of a body that's made of muscles and fat. If you grab the flesh of your little brother's arm to keep him from running into the street, you're holding the soft part of his arm. We often use the word flesh to talk about the tissues of an animal's body — in other words, the fat and muscle that most humans consider to be food, or meat. But you'll also hear people say "flesh and bone" or "flesh and blood" when they're describing the physical parts of a human. The Old English root is flæsc, "flesh or meat."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flesh fleshes fleshed fleshing

“The two of you now, as one flesh, should create a family that devotes itself to the nation and its people,” Lee told them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Corpse flowers bloom for just 24 to 48 hours, and once opened, they reek of gym socks, rotten eggs and decaying flesh … or, well, a corpse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

They spray confetti into the audience to punctuate their biggest songs, and add an honorary fifth member, Ryan Malcolm, to flesh out their sound with swells of keyboard and additional rhythm guitar.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

Perhaps he’ll flesh out his views a bit more, but don’t count on a major reveal.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

The fish was missing neat round circles of flesh.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

That earlier book floated an eye-catching thesis that Mr. Mandelbaum now fleshes out fully: that U.S. foreign policy is, indeed, distinctive, being “unusually ideological, unusually economic, and unusually democratic.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Christine Cover Ferro‘s costumes situate the jockeying courtiers in a vintage 20th century underworld. Projection designer Nick Santiago fleshes out Angela Balogh Calin‘s stripped down scenic design, which combines Elizabethan simplicity with modern rough edges.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026

The film shares the same narrative structure as past versions but fleshes out sequences that necessitate more introspection to enhance the story’s already enchanting framework.

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024

The board fleshes out detailed regulations based on laws enacted by the Legislature, with input from the public and state scientists.

From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2024

A glance into the classrooms of the Los Angeles public school system, where my sons are being educated, fleshes out the abstract debates with the faces of children.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

By the 2000s, some franchises offered games that fleshed out or complemented the worlds depicted on the silver screen.

From Barron's ● May 26, 2026

Redmond has since fleshed out the Los Angeles version of the show, going deeper into stories and punching up the jokes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026

Professors Carlos Manuel Vázquez and Steve Vladeck fleshed out the theory in an important 2013 article that has only grown more relevant since.

From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2026

"Security guarantees are going to have to be fleshed out," says Ambassador Fried.

From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2025

Part of this command superstructure that had accumulated over an entire career was not completely fleshed out but still had impact on the colonel’s persona as a commander.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

And then Jamie and I have been fleshing it out with Matt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

The luxurious hotel complex was proposed by Washington and Tehran, and their Pakistani and Qatari mediators, for the negotiations aimed at fleshing out their preliminary agreement on ending nearly four months of war.

From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026

We’re all for peace-making, but this idea could use some fleshing out.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026

With “Queer,” Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes take an abstract approach to fleshing out the intricacies of Burroughs’ work.

From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2024

Anyone who tries to occupy this ‘best of both worlds’ position needs to face up to a further challenge, that of fleshing out the notion that nature pushes back.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• beef
• fat
• meat
• muscle