FLEECE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fleece mean? 

• FLEECE (noun)
  The noun FLEECE has 4 senses:

1. the wool of a sheep or similar animal

2. tanned skin of a sheep with the fleece left on; used for clothing

3. a soft bulky fabric with deep pile; used chiefly for clothing

4. outer coat of especially sheep and yaks

  Familiarity information: FLEECE used as a noun is uncommon.

• FLEECE (verb)
  The verb FLEECE has 2 senses:

1. rip off; ask an unreasonable price

2. shear the wool from

  Familiarity information: FLEECE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLEECE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The wool of a sheep or similar animal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("fleece" is a kind of...):

wool (fiber sheared from animals (such as sheep) and twisted into yarn for weaving)

Derivation:

fleece (shear the wool from)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tanned skin of a sheep with the fleece left on; used for clothing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

fleece; sheepskin

Hypernyms ("fleece" is a kind of...):

leather (an animal skin made smooth and flexible by removing the hair and then tanning)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fleece"):

Golden Fleece (in Greek mythology, a fleece of gold owned by the king of Colchis and guarded in a sacred grove by a dragon; recovered by Jason and the Argonauts)

Derivation:

fleece (shear the wool from)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A soft bulky fabric with deep pile; used chiefly for clothing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fleece" is a kind of...):

cloth; fabric; material; textile (artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers)

Derivation:

fleecy ((of fabrics) having soft nap produced by brushing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Outer coat of especially sheep and yaks

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

fleece; wool

Hypernyms ("fleece" is a kind of...):

coat; pelage (growth of hair or wool or fur covering the body of an animal)

Derivation:

fleece (shear the wool from)

• FLEECE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fleece    ... he / she / it fleeces   
Past simple: fleeced   
Past participle: fleeced   
-ing form: fleecing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Rip off; ask an unreasonable price

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

fleece; gazump; hook; overcharge; pluck; plume; rob; soak; surcharge

Hypernyms (to "fleece" is one way to...):

cheat; chisel; rip off (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

"Fleece" entails doing...:

bill; charge (demand payment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fleece"):

extort; gouge; rack; squeeze; wring (obtain by coercion or intimidation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They fleece him of all his money

Sense 2

Meaning:

Shear the wool from

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

fleece; shear

Context example:

shear sheep

Hypernyms (to "fleece" is one way to...):

shave; trim (cut closely)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fleece (outer coat of especially sheep and yaks)

fleece (tanned skin of a sheep with the fleece left on; used for clothing)

fleece (the wool of a sheep or similar animal)

 Context examples 

Fleece them like sheep and sheep they will remain.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Since my last return I find the breed is considerably increased, especially the sheep, which I hope will prove much to the advantage of the woollen manufacture, by the fineness of the fleeces.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The low justice means that you may fleece him, and the middle that you may torture him, and the high that you may slay him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sun was lying low in the west and shooting its level rays across the long sweep of rich green country, glinting on the white-fleeced sheep and throwing long shadows from the red kine who waded knee-deep in the juicy clover.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)