flea

a flea in (one's) ear

A sharp, strident, or disconcerting reproof or rebuff. She gave me a flea in my ear over my spending habits. I'll be sure to put a flea in his ear the next time I see him!See also: ear, flea

flea market

A typically outdoor market or bazaar where sundry goods, antiques, household items, or trinkets are sold, bartered, or traded. Possibly from the French marché aux puces, a name given to an outdoor market in Paris where second-hand goods were sold. I love our town's local flea market— you never know what you might find there!See also: flea, market

flea in the ear

1. Something annoying. That constant beeping has become a flea in the ear. Is there any way to stop it?2. A harsh reprimand. I had to talk to Mr. Myers about the botched report today, and boy, did he give me a flea in the ear.See also: ear, flea

he that lieth with dogs riseth with fleas

If one spends time with bad people, one will suffer in some way (often by becoming like said associates). I worry about my brother hanging out with all those troublemakers—he that lieth with dogs riseth with fleas.See also: dog, flea, he, that

if you lie with dogs, you will get fleas

If one spends time with bad people, one will suffer in some way (often by becoming like said associates). I worry about my brother hanging out with all those troublemakers—if you lie with dogs, you will get fleas, you know?See also: flea, get, if, lie, will

send (one) away with a flea in (one's) ear

To turn one away forcefully or angrily. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. That's the third time they've asked for a donation this week. Send them away with a flea in their ear! My mother sent me away with a flea in my ear when I asked her if I could quit piano lessons.See also: away, ear, flea, send

not hurt a fly

To harm nothing or no one. Said of one who is particularly gentle, shy, diffident, or timid by nature. My brother is a very sweet, warm-hearted man who wouldn't hurt a fly. How can you suspect him of committing this crime?See also: fly, hurt, not

(as) fit as a flea

In good health. Yes, I did have surgery a few months ago, but I'm as fit as a flea now. I just saw Eric recently, and he's as fit as a flea.See also: fit, flea

not hurt a flea

To harm nothing or no one. Said of one who is particularly gentle, shy, diffident, or timid by nature. My brother is a very sweet, warm-hearted man who wouldn't hurt a flea. How can you suspect him of committing this crime?See also: flea, hurt, not

fleabag

1. noun, slang An inexpensive, shabby hotel or similar place of lodging. Ew, we can't stay in a fleabag like that, no matter how cheap it is. It's probably infested with bedbugs!2. adjective, slang Describing such a place. I've stayed in a lot of fleabag motels, but this place is beyond disgusting.

fleabite

1. A minor annoyance or nuisance OK, so we have to go somewhere else for dinner. It's not a big deal, just a fleabite in the grand scheme of things, really.2. A very small, insignificant chip or scrape. There's one small fleabite on the side of that dish, but it's hardly noticeable.

if you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas

If one spends time with bad people, one will suffer in some way (often by becoming like said associates). I worry about my brother hanging out with all those troublemakers—if you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas, you know?See also: down, flea, get, if, lie, up, will

*fit as a fiddle

Cliché in very good health. (*Also: as ~.) You may feel sick now, but after a few days of rest and plenty of liquids, you'll be fit as a fiddle. Grandson: Are you sure you'll be able to climb all these stairs? Grandmother: Of course! I feel as fit as a fiddle today.See also: fiddle, fit

If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.

Prov. If you associate with bad people, you will acquire their faults. Granddaughter: It's not fair. I'm starting to get a bad reputation just because I'm friends with Suzy and she has a bad reputation. Grandmother: It's only natural. People think that if you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.See also: down, flea, get, if, lie, up, will

not hurt a flea

Fig. not to harm anything or anyone, even a tiny insect. (Also with other forms of negation.) Ted would not even hurt a flea. He could not have struck Bill. Ted would never hurt a flea, and he would not hit anyone as you claim.See also: flea, hurt, not

fit as a fiddle

In excellent form or health. For example, He's not just recovered, he's fit as a fiddle. The original allusion of this simile has been lost. Its survival is probably due to the pleasant sound of its alliteration. [Early 1600s] See also: fiddle, fit

flea in one's ear, a

An annoying hint or a stinging rebuke, as in He has a flea in his ear about their relationship, or If he doesn't bring the right equipment, I'll put a flea in his ear. This expression originated in French and has been used in English since the 1400s. See also: flea

flea market

A market, usually held outdoors, where used goods and antiques are sold. For example, We picked up half of our furniture at flea markets. The term is a direct translation of the French marché aux puces and presumably implies that some of the used clothes and furniture might be flea-infested. [1920s] See also: flea, market

not hurt a fly

Also, not hurt a flea. Not cause harm to anyone, be gentle and mild, as in Paul's the kindest man-he wouldn't hurt a flea, or Bert has a temper but it's all talk; he wouldn't hurt a fly. Both fly and flea are used in the sense of "a small insignificant animal." [Early 1800s] See also: fly, hurt, not

fit as a fiddle

BRITISH, AMERICAN or

fit as a flea

BRITISHIf someone is as fit as a fiddle or as fit as a flea, they are very fit and healthy. Note: In the first two idioms here, `fit' means healthy and full of energy. He was nearly 80 and as fit as a fiddle. He is young enough at 33 and fit as a flea. Note: This expression may originally have applied to a violin player, or fiddler, rather than to a violin, or fiddle. The fiddler had to be fit in order to play all evening at a festival or party. Alternatively, `fit' could mean `suitable' rather than `healthy', so the original meaning may have been `as suitable for its purpose as a fiddle is for making music'. See also: fiddle, fit

send someone away with a flea in their ear

BRITISHIf you send someone away with a flea in their ear, you tell them to go away and that you are angry with them. Minnie sent Sligo away with a flea in his ear and a warning not to return. Note: This expression can be used in many different structures. For example, you can say that someone gets or is given a flea in their ear or that someone leaves or comes away with a flea their ear. All that had happened, I suspected, was that Sylvia had got a flea in her ear. Note: A flea is a small jumping insect that lives on the bodies of humans or animals and feeds on their blood. See also: away, ear, flea, send, someone

fit as a fiddle

in very good health.See also: fiddle, fit

fit as a flea

in very good health. The phrase makes reference to a flea's agility.See also: fit, flea

a flea in your ear

a sharp reproof. Formerly a flea in your ear also meant something that agitates or alarms you, as does the French phrase avoir la puce à l'oreille . Nowadays, it is often found in the phrases give someone a flea in the ear or send someone away with a flea in their ear .See also: ear, flea

(as) ˌfit as a ˈfiddle

(also ˌfighting ˈfit) very healthy and active: After our walking holiday, I came back feeling fit as a fiddle.See also: fiddle, fit

with a ˈflea in your ear

if somebody sends a person away with a flea in their ear, they tell them angrily to go away: When he came to ask for his job back, we sent him away with a flea in his ear.See also: ear, flea

fleabag

(ˈflibæg) n. a cheap hotel; a flophouse. Rocko never stays in fleabags. He’s too proud. Sam doesn’t care.

fleabite

n. a small chip off something. This cup has a little fleabite, but it doesn’t really harm its value.

a flea in (one's) ear

An annoying hint or a stinging rebuke.See also: ear, flea

fit as a fiddle

In excellent health, in good working order. The proverbial likening of human good health to a fiddle dates from 1600 or earlier, but there is no completely convincing explanation of the analogy. It appeared in print in the early seventeenth century and was in John Ray’s proverb collection of 1678. Fit in those days meant “appropriate,” as “fitting” still does, but why a fiddle should be considered especially appropriate is unknown. It was only in the nineteenth century that the meaning of physical fitness was attached to the expression, where it remains today.See also: fiddle, fit

flea in one's ear, to have a

To be upset or annoyed by a rebuke or a rejection. This term dates back at least to the fifteenth century in English, and may be older yet in French. It appeared in John Heywood’s 1546 proverb collection and has continued to be used ever since. See also: flea, have

flea in his ear

A sharp, unwelcome rebuke. To have a flea literally inserted in your ear would be an unwanted nuisance, just as being scolded, even if deserved, would be. The British use the phrase to mean “put a bug in the ear”: to plant a suspicion. The French “put a flea in the ear” to arouse amatory feelings, hardly an aphrodisiacal image (any more than a Spanish fly would be).See also: ear, flea

flea

flea,

common name for any of the small, wingless insectsinsect,
invertebrate animal of the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda. Like other arthropods, an insect has a hard outer covering, or exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed legs. Adult insects typically have wings and are the only flying invertebrates.
..... Click the link for more information. of the order Siphonaptera. The adults of both sexes eat only blood and are all external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas have hard bodies flattened from side to side and piercing and sucking mouthparts. Their legs are powerful and adapted for fast movement and jumping, enabling them to find new hosts as well as to escape quickly the attempts of the hosts to remove them. The adults can survive away from a host for several weeks without eating. Flea eggs are usually laid in dirt or in the nest of the host; the larvae feed on organic material and the feces of adult fleas. Metamorphosismetamorphosis
[Gr.,=transformation], in zoology, term used to describe a form of development from egg to adult in which there is a series of distinct stages. Many insects, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, and fishes undergo metamorphosis, which may involve a change in habitat,
..... Click the link for more information. is complete; the larvae spin silken cocoons when ready to pupate. Many species are not specific to a particular host species, and cat and dog fleas, as well as the human flea of the warmer parts of Europe and Asia, attack humans. Certain rat fleas transmit typhustyphus,
any of a group of infectious diseases caused by microorganisms classified between bacteria and viruses, known as rickettsias. Typhus diseases are characterized by high fever and an early onset of rash and headache.
..... Click the link for more information. and bubonic plagueplague,
any contagious, malignant, epidemic disease, in particular the bubonic plague and the black plague (or Black Death), both forms of the same infection. These acute febrile diseases are caused by Yersinia pestis (Pasteurella pestis
..... Click the link for more information. to humans, and another species transmits tularemiatularemia
or rabbit fever,
acute, infectious disease caused by Francisella tularensis (Pasteurella tularensis). The greatest incidence is among people who handle infected wild rabbits.
..... Click the link for more information. from rabbits. Fleas also transmit several species of tapewormstapeworm,
name for the parasitic flatworms forming the class Cestoda. All tapeworms spend the adult phase of their lives as parasites in the gut of a vertebrate animal (called the primary host).
..... Click the link for more information. that sometimes infest humans. The chigoechigoe
or jigger,
small parasitic flea (Tunga penetrans) of the tropics and subtropics, including the S United States. Humans and their domestic animals are the main hosts.
..... Click the link for more information. is a flea. Water fleas and beach fleas are crustaceanscrustacean
, primarily aquatic arthropod of the subphylum Crustacea. Most of the 44,000 crustacean species are marine, but there are many freshwater forms. The few groups that inhabit terrestrial areas have not been particularly successful in an evolutionary sense; most require
..... Click the link for more information. and not closely related to the insects. Fleas are classified in the phylum ArthropodaArthropoda
[Gr.,=jointed feet], largest and most diverse animal phylum. The arthropods include crustaceans, insects, centipedes, millipedes, spiders, scorpions, and the extinct trilobites.
..... Click the link for more information. , class Insecta, order Siphonaptera.

flea

[flē] (invertebrate zoology) Any of the wingless insects composing the order Siphonaptera; most are ectoparasites of mammals and birds.

flea

1. any small wingless parasitic blood-sucking insect of the order Siphonaptera, living on the skin of mammals and birds and noted for its power of leaping 2. any of various invertebrates that resemble fleas, such as the water flea and flea beetle

flea

flea

flea

flea

flea

flea

flea

flea

flea

a flea in (one's) ear

flea market

flea in the ear

he that lieth with dogs riseth with fleas

if you lie with dogs, you will get fleas

send (one) away with a flea in (one's) ear

not hurt a fly

(as) fit as a flea

not hurt a flea

fleabag

fleabite

if you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas

*fit as a fiddle

If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.

not hurt a flea

fit as a fiddle

flea in one's ear, a

flea market

not hurt a fly

fit as a fiddle

fit as a flea

send someone away with a flea in their ear

fit as a fiddle

fit as a flea

a flea in your ear

(as) ˌfit as a ˈfiddle

with a ˈflea in your ear

fleabag

fleabite

a flea in (one's) ear

fit as a fiddle

flea in one's ear, to have a

flea in his ear

flea

flea,

flea

flea

FLEA

flea

Words related to flea

noun any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap

Related Words