fleece
part of speech
noun (a fleece, fleeces); verb (fleece, fleeces, fleeced, fleecing — informal)
meaning for a pupil
1) The woolly coat of a sheep, or the wool cut from one sheep in one piece. tree →
2) A soft, warm jacket or jumper made of fluffy man-made fabric. tree →
3) (informal) To fleece someone is to cheat them out of money, often by charging far too much. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: It is the wool of the sheep. The first of it had to be given to the priest. Gideon asked for a sign using a fleece, wet with dew while the ground was dry and then the other way round. Job speaks of warming the poor with the fleece of his sheep. Interpretation: This is one of the priestly gifts, the first of the shearing. Tradition reads Gideon's fleece as a sign God gave to calm his doubt before battle. Job's words are read as an example of kindness to the poor. In the primary lessons: In farm topics and stories, sheep are sheared and their fleece is spun into wool. In everyday life a fleece is a cosy jacket for cold days or school trips. In money and safety lessons, being fleeced means being cheated. Phrases: a fleece jacket, the Golden Fleece (a Greek myth), get fleeced.
examples
- The first-fruits of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. (Torah DEU.18.4, JPS 1917) tree →
- If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; (Writings JOB.31.20, JPS 1917) tree →
- And God did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. (Prophets JDG.6.40, JPS 1917) tree →
- And it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. (Prophets JDG.6.38, JPS 1917) tree →
- The farmer clipped the sheep's fleece in one big piece. tree →
- Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow. tree →
- Bring a warm fleece on the school camping trip. tree →
- My fleece got covered in dog hair. tree →
- The tourists were fleeced by a taxi driver who charged them triple. tree →
- In the Greek myth, Jason sailed to find the Golden Fleece. tree →
- One fleece can give enough wool to knit a jumper. tree →
- It was a good fat sheep, with a fine fleece on its back. tree →
note
Countable: one fleece, two fleeces. The verb sense is informal and means cheat; it does not mean to cut wool (that is shear). A fleece jacket is usually made of polyester, not sheep's wool.
In the corpora
- And God did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
- If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
- In 2015 a runaway sheep in Australia named Chris was found with a fleece weighing about 40 kilograms.
- Some people think the golden takin's shining coat inspired the Greek legend of the Golden Fleece.
- Paper is soaked and mashed into new paper, and plastic bottles can be spun into threads for fleece jackets.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «fleece» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.