Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

flea

Syllabification: (flea)
Pronunciation: /flē/

Translate flea | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of flea

noun

  • a small wingless jumping insect that feeds on the blood of mammals and birds. It sometimes transmits diseases through its bite, including plague and myxomatosis.
    • Order Siphonaptera: several families and many species, including the human flea (Pulex irritans) and the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis)
  • short for flea beetle.
  • a water flea (see daphnia).

Phrases

a flea in one's ear

a sharp reproof:she expected to be sent away with a flea in her ear

Origin:

Old English flēa, flēah, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlo and German Floh

flea in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of flea in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

More words in this category

Word of the day

leporine

/ ˈlɛpərʌɪn /
adjective
of or resembling a hare or hares …