[syn: fleece, shear]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fleece \Fleece\ (fl[=e]s), n. [OE. flees, AS. fle['o]s; akin to
D. flies, vlies.]
1. The entire coat of wool that covers a sheep or other
similar animal; also, the quantity shorn from a sheep, or
animal, at one time.
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Who shore me
Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece.
--Milton.
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2. Any soft woolly covering resembling a fleece.
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3. (Manuf.) The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the
doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine.
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Fleece wool, wool shorn from the sheep.
Golden fleece. See under Golden.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fleece \Fleece\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fleeced; p. pr. & vb. n.
Fleecing.]
1. To deprive of a fleece, or natural covering of wool.
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2. To strip of money or other property unjustly, especially
by trickery or fraud; to bring to straits by oppressions
and exactions.
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Whilst pope and prince shared the wool betwixt them,
the people were finely fleeced. --Fuller.
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3. To spread over as with wool. [R.] --Thomson.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
fleece
n 1: the wool of a sheep or similar animal
2: tanned skin of a sheep with the fleece left on; used for
clothing [syn: sheepskin, fleece]
3: a soft bulky fabric with deep pile; used chiefly for clothing
4: outer coat of especially sheep and yaks [syn: wool,
fleece]
v 1: rip off; ask an unreasonable price [syn: overcharge,
soak, surcharge, gazump, fleece, plume, pluck,
rob, hook] [ant: undercharge]
2: shear the wool from; "shear sheep" [syn: fleece, shear]