flea

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flea

any of numerous small, wingless bloodsucking parasitic insects that prey on mammals and birds

Not to be confused with:

flee – vanish; evade, escape, avoid, shun, elude; to run away from: If they are not watched carefully they will flee.

flea

(flē)

1. Any of various small, wingless, bloodsucking insects of the order Siphonaptera that are parasitic on mammals and birds and can jump long distances.

2. Any of various small crustaceans that resemble or move like fleas, such as the water flea.

Idiom:

a flea in (one's) ear

An annoying hint or a stinging rebuke.

[Middle English fle, from Old English flēah.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

flea

(fliː)

1. (Animals) 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. (Animals) any of various invertebrates that resemble fleas, such as the water flea and flea beetle

3. flea in one's ear informal a sharp rebuke

[Old English flēah; related to Old Norse flō, Old High German flōh]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

flea

(fli)

n.

1. any small, flattened, wingless, bloodsucking insect of the order Siphonaptera, parasitic upon mammals and birds and noted for its ability to leap.

2. any of various small beetles and crustaceans that leap like a flea, as the beach flea.

Idioms:

flea in one's ear,

a. a rebuke.

b. a broad hint.

[before 900; Middle English fle, Old English flēah, flēa]

flea

(flē)

1. Any of various small, wingless, bloodsucking insects that have legs adapted for jumping and live as parasites on warm-blooded animals.

2. Any of various small crustaceans, such as the water flea, that resemble or move like fleas.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

flea - any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap

ectoparasite, ectozoan, ectozoon, epizoan, epizoon - any external parasitic organism (as fleas)

insect - small air-breathing arthropod

order Siphonaptera, Siphonaptera - fleas

Pulex irritans - the most common flea attacking humans

Ctenocephalides canis, dog flea - flea that attacks dogs and cats

cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis - flea that breeds chiefly on cats and dogs and rats

chigger, chigoe, chigoe flea, Tunga penetrans - small tropical flea; the fertile female burrows under the skin of the host including humans

Echidnophaga gallinacea, sticktight flea, sticktight - parasitic on especially the heads of chickens

Translations

Spanish / Español

Select a language:

pulga

flea

[fliː]

A. N → pulga f
to send sb away with a flea in his ear → despachar a algn con cajas destempladas

B. CPD flea collar N → collar m antipulgas or antiparasitario
flea market N → mercadillo m, rastro m (Sp)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

flea

(fliː) noun

a type of small blood-sucking insect that jumps instead of flying and lives on the bodies of animals or people. pulga

ˈflea market noun

an open-air market that sells cheap, old or used articles. rastro

flea

→ pulga

Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

flea

n. pulga, insecto chupador de sangre;

___ bite → picadura de ___.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

flea

n pulga

References in classic literature ?

A Flea, a Grasshopper, and a Leap-frog once wanted to see which could jump highest; and they invited the whole world, and everybody else besides who chose to come to see the festival.

It was thus that the Flea and the Grasshopper gave an account of themselves, and thought they were quite good enough to marry a Princess.

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A MAN, very much annoyed with a Flea, caught him at last, and said, "Who are you who dare to feed on my limbs, and to cost me so much trouble in catching you?' The Flea replied, "O my dear sir, pray spare my life, and destroy me not, for I cannot possibly do you much harm." The Man, laughing, replied, "Now you shall certainly die by mine own hands, for no evil, whether it be small or large, ought to be tolerated."

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Applied to any other creature than the Leviathan --to an ant or a flea --such portly terms might justly be deemed unwarrantably grandiloquent.

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Can't you see that we're both Pups in the Wood and the missis is the cruel uncle after you with the dish towel and me with the flea liniment and a pink bow to tie on my tail.

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Consider the flea!--incomparably the bravest of all the creatures of God, if ignorance of fear were courage.

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"Why, you need a flea, not a man!" exclaimed the Sub-Warden.

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In this Thwackum had the advantage; for while Square could only scarify the poor lad's reputation, he could flea his skin; and, indeed, he considered every lash he gave him as a compliment paid to his mistress; so that he could, with the utmost propriety, repeat this old flogging line,

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Know you not, lout, vagabond, beggar, that were it not for the might that she infuses into my arm I should not have strength enough to kill a flea? Say, scoffer with a viper's tongue, what think you has won this kingdom and cut off this giant's head and made you a marquis (for all this I count as already accomplished and decided), but the might of Dulcinea, employing my arm as the instrument of her achievements?

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The hairless patches on a scalded dog are preferred by the fleas of Constantinople to a wider range on a healthier dog; and the exposed places suit the fleas exactly.

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And at last she did; the red lips parted, and out leaps her thought--and with such a guileless and pretty enthusiasm, too: "Auntie, I just KNOW I've got five hundred fleas on me!"

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Old Karay had turned his head and was angrily searching for fleas, baring his yellow teeth and snapping at his hind legs.

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