Definitions for flea
fliflea

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fleanoun

   any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. FLEAnoun

   A small red insect remarkable for its agility in leaping, which sucks the blood of larger animals.

   Etymology: flea, Saxon; vloye, Dutch; fleach, Scottish.

   While wormwood hath seed, get a handful or twain,
   To save against March to make flea to refrain: Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood is strown,
   No flea for his life dare abide to be known. Thomas Tusser, Husband.

   Fleas breed principally of straw or mats, where there hath been a little moisture. Francis Bacon, Natural History.

   A valiant flea, that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion. William Shakespeare, Henry V.

2. To Fleaverb

   To clean from fleas.

   Etymology: from the noun.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Flea

   Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about 3 millimetres (1⁄8 inch) long, are usually brown, and have bodies that are "flattened" sideways or narrow, enabling them to move through their hosts' fur or feathers. They lack wings; their hind legs are extremely well adapted for jumping. Their claws keep them from being dislodged, and their mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. They can leap 50 times their body length, a feat second only to jumps made by another group of insects, the superfamily of froghoppers. Flea larvae are worm-like, with no limbs; they have chewing mouthparts and feed on organic debris left on their hosts' skin. Genetic evidence indicates that fleas are a specialised lineage of parasitic scorpionflies (Mecoptera) sensu lato, most closely related to the family Nannochoristidae. The earliest known fleas lived in the Middle Jurassic; modern-looking forms appeared in the Cenozoic. Fleas probably originated on mammals first and expanded their reach to birds. Each species of flea specializes, more or less, on one species of host: many species of flea never breed on any other host; some are less selective. Some families of fleas are exclusive to a single host group; for example, the Malacopsyllidae are found only on armadillos, the Ischnopsyllidae only on bats, and the Chimaeropsyllidae only on elephant shrews. The oriental rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis, is a vector of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes bubonic plague. The disease was spread to humans by rodents, such as the black rat, which were bitten by infected fleas. Major outbreaks included the Plague of Justinian, about 540, and the Black Death, about 1350, each of which killed a sizeable fraction of the world's people. Fleas appear in human culture in such diverse forms as flea circuses; poems, such as John Donne's erotic "The Flea"; works of music, such as those by Modest Mussorgsky; and a film by Charlie Chaplin.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. flea

   A flea is a small, wingless jumping insect that feeds on the blood of mammals and birds. Fleas have hard, flat bodies adapted to move easily through the fur or feathers of their hosts. Many species are known to transmit diseases or parasites to both animals and humans.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:3.5 / 2 votes

1. Fleaverb

   to flay

2. Fleanoun

   an insect belonging to the genus Pulex, of the order Aphaniptera. Fleas are destitute of wings, but have the power of leaping energetically. The bite is poisonous to most persons. The human flea (Pulex irritans), abundant in Europe, is rare in America, where the dog flea (P. canis) takes its place. See Aphaniptera, and Dog flea. See Illustration in Appendix

3. Etymology: [See Flay.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Flea

   Fleas are the insects forming the order Siphonaptera. They are wingless, with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Fleas are external parasites, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals and birds. Some flea species include: ⁕Cat flea ⁕Dog flea ⁕Human flea ⁕Moorhen flea ⁕Northern rat flea ⁕Oriental rat flea Over 2,000 species have been described worldwide.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Flea

   flē, n. a well-known wingless insect of great agility, ectoparasitic on warm-blooded animals.—ns. Flea′-bane, a genus of plants which emit a strong smell said to have the power of driving away fleas; Flea′-bite, the bite of a flea: a small mark caused by the bite: (fig.) a trifle.—adj. Flea′-bit′ten, bitten by fleas: (fig.) mean: having small reddish spots on a lighter ground, of horses.—A flea in one's ear, a caution, rebuff, anything specially irritating. [A.S. fléah; cf. Ger. floh, Dut. vloo.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. flea

   Song lyrics by flea -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by flea on the Lyrics.com website.

2. FLEA

   What does FLEA stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the FLEA acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Ectoparasite
   • Insect

Anagrams for flea »

1. leaf

2. alef

3. feal

How to pronounce flea?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say flea in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of flea in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of flea in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of flea in a Sentence

1. Taylor Gecking:

   My husband and I stopped at a flea market during a road trip and saw the Ronald McDonald stained-glass piece, and I was inexplicably drawn to it, i walked away from it that day, but a whole year later, as we were driving through the same area, I asked him to stop at the flea market so I could see if [ the piece ] was still there.

2. Steve Smith:

   Mr. Zarauskas is a sporadically employed New Jersey construction worker who likes to go to flea markets, he was never present when a tusk crossed the border, and we think any suggestion that he knew the tusks were illegal is shaky.

3. Michel de Montaigne:

   Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a flea, yet he makes gods by the dozens.

4. Thomas Steinemann:

   People who wear costume contacts or colored contacts that they find at the dollar store or the flea market usually end up in my office needing treatment of some kind, i see patients all the time who come in who may wear colored lenses and they talk about how they’re not comfortable and they ca n’t always see well.

5. Ogden Nash:

   A flea and a fly

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=flea
2. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=flea
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flea
6. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=flea
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=flea