fleshly, a. and adv.
(ˈflɛʃlɪ)
[OE. flǽsclic, f. flǽsc, flesh + -lic, -ly1.]
A. adj. I. Of or pertaining to the flesh, i.e. the body.
1. a. Of or pertaining to bodily appetites and indulgences; carnal, lascivious, sensual. Rarely of persons: Given up to bodily lusts; = carnal 3.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxi. §1 Hwæt godes maᵹan we secᵹan on þa flæsclican unþeawas. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 100 Unrihtlic bið þæt se cristena mann flæsclice lustas ᵹefremme. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 63 Wiðtieð ȝiu fro flesliche lustes. a 1300 Cursor M. 26364 (Cott.) Flessely sin es lucheri. 1382 Wyclif 1 Pet. ii. 11 Fleschly desijris..fiȝten aȝens the soule. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) ii. viii, All the flesshly felynge of this synfull ymage. 1533 Frith Answ. Fisher (1829) 194 Fleshly men..that follow their own lusts and appetites. a 1592 H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 410 The religion of Mahomet is fleshly, consisting in natural delights and corporal pleasures. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 119 Shall justice sleepe In fleshly lethargie? 1714 Pope Epil. Rowe's Jane Shore 21 The godly dame, who fleshly failings damns. 1826 Scott Woodst. xxix, What he called a fleshly frailty..was in truth an attachment to strong liquors. 1872 R. Buchanan (title) The Fleshly School of Poetry and other Phenomena of the day. 1881 W. S. Gilbert Patience, Dramatis Personae..Reginald Bunthorne (a Fleshly Poet). 1882 [see æsthetic a. 4]. 1961 New English Bible John i. 13 Not born of any human stock, or by the fleshly desire of a human father. |
† b. Sexual; = carnal 3 b. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10874 (Cott.) Hu sal i brede, Þat neuer hadd part of flessli dede of man? 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour E vj b, [She] coueyted to haue his flesshely companye. 1485 Act 1 Hen. VII, c. 4 Advoutry, Fornication, Incest, or any other fleshly Incontinency. |
† 2. Connected by, or based upon, ties of flesh and blood; natural. = carnal 2. Obs.
| c 900 Bæda's Hist. i. xvi. [xxvii.] (1890) 68 Ða goodan fædras ᵹewuniað heora flæslecu bearn. a 1225 Juliana 5 Hire fleschliche feder wes affrican ihaten. a 1300 Cursor M. 20068 (Cott.) Saint iohan þat was his flexsli kinesman. 14.. Prose Legends in Anglia VIII. 117 This mayden was his fleschly cosyn. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 760 Fleshly consanguinitie. 1578 Gude & G. Ball. (1868) 29 We our fleschely father dreid. |
3. ‘Natural’, unredeemed, unregenerate; = carnal 5.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 19 Þa flæslican willan. c 1200 Ormin 17276 To shæwenn himm whatt wise Flæshlike mann maȝȝ wurrþenn gast. 1526 Tindale Rom. viii. 7 That the flesshly mynde is enmyte against God. 1550 Crowley Epigr. 1035 That wyth theyr fleshly fansey They may make it [Scripture] agre. 1871 Ruskin Fors Clav. xxiv. (1872) 10 Avaricious..in an instinctive, fleshly way. |
4. Of or pertaining to the material body, mortal; material as opposed to spiritual; human as opposed to divine. the fleshly eye: the bodily eye. Now rare. = carnal 1.
| c 1200 Ormin 12112 Ne mihhte he nohht þurrh flæshlic eȝhess sihhþe Seon þære [etc.]. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 914 Ðus he schrudde & hudde him..wið ure fleschliche schrud. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 1081 An-vnder mone so gret merwayle No fleschly hert ne myȝt endeure. 1382 Wyclif 2 Chron. xxxii. 8 With hym is the fleschely arm; with us the Lord oure God. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. i. (1859) 1, I had made an ende and fully fynyshed my fleshely pylgremage. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love (E.E.T.S.) 61 With fflescly eyn bodily þingis ar seyn. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 50 Th' eternall Lord in fleshly slime Enwombed was. 1607 Rowlands Famous Hist. 67 My golden Scepter, in a fleshly hand, Is taken from me by another King. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. iv. §14, I never imagined it could be pretended that we saw God with our fleshly eyes. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 10 The soul of a man underlies his features and his fleshly framework. |
5. Pertaining to, concerned with, or influenced by the present life, and considerations connected with it; worldly. Now rare. = carnal 4.
| c 1200 Ormin 4852 All flæshliȝ care & serrȝhe. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 33 The hartes.. of flesshely people be harde. 1531 Tindale Exp. 1 John (1537) 38 They preach hym falselye vnto theyr fleshly vauntage. a 1591 R. Greenham Short forme Catechising Wks. (1599) 418 Fleshly hatred of our enemies. 1648 Cromwell Let. 25 Nov. in Ann. Reg. (1765) 52 Our fleshly reasonings ensnare us. 1798 Missionary Mag. No. 24. 217 Simplicity and godly sincerity, as opposed to fleshly wisdom, strongly marked his character. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost i. 22 The man of flesh and blood, of fleshly reasons. |
II. With reference to flesh (as a substance).
† 6. Well furnished with flesh; fat, plump; = fleshy 1. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1199 (1248) Her sidis longe, fleishely, smoothe, and white He gan to stroke. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.) 226 Men whyche haue fleshly theghes and not bony. 1562 Turner Baths 8 b, They are good for them that are to fatt and fleshlye. 1651 Life Father Sarpi (1676) 97 Looking him in the face you would rather have thought it fleshly than otherwise. 1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1711) 92 They are very good Food..fleshly and fattish. |
7. a. Consisting of flesh: = fleshy 2. ? Obs.
| 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. E iv a, Substaunce flesshely, bony, and cartilagynous. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1090 The Tygre, and the Bore..seeking to take occasion Upon his fleshly corpse to make invasion. 1654 Vilvain Epit. Ess. v. lxxx. 116 b, Caling such Animals as liv on Land Flesh; and thos that dwel in Water Fish; yet in Nature the Bodies of both are Fleshly. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlvi. (1856) 423 A smiling country, like a smiling face, needs some provision of fleshly integuments. |
b. esp. of the heart: Soft, as opposed to ‘stony’; tender; = fleshy 2 c.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Cor. iii. 3 Not in stoony tablis, but in fleischly tablis of herte. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 362/2 Then taketh hee awaye our stony hart, and geueth vs a fleshly hart. 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. ii. ii, Can there be such..treason in the fleshly heart of man. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh iv. 1192 Enough for me and for my fleshly heart To hearken the invocations of my kind. |
† c. Of a leaf: = fleshy 2 d. Obs.
| 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden lxviii, The common Orpine riseth..with fat and fleshly Leaves. |
† 8. Of a hound: Fond of flesh. Obs. rare.
| 1576 Turberv. Venerie 25 You should not feede haryers with fleshe..for if you do, they will become fleshly and gyuen to hunte great beastes of chace. |
III. 9. Comb., as fleshly-minded adj., fleshly-mindedness.
| 1528 Tindale Wicked Mammon Wks. I. 105 Were altogether worldly and fleshly-minded. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iv. ii. i. (1651) 685 They are in a reprobate sense mere carnalists, fleshly minded men. 1840 Hare Mission Comf. iii. (1850) 77 In every man there is a root of carnal or fleshlymindedness. |
† B. adv. Obs.
1. a. In bodily form, corporeally; as regards the body, ‘in the flesh’; = carnally adv. 1.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 19 Þat ȝet þer he wuneð fleschliche on eorðe. c 1250 Old Kentish Serm. in O.E. Misc. 27 And offre we Gostliche to ure lorde, þet [h]i offrede flesliche. c 1440 York Myst. xlvi. 77 To rise flesshly, i-wis. |
b. In a material or physical sense or manner; materially as opposed to spiritually.
| c 1200 Ormin 16257 Flæshlike follc, i flæshliȝ lif Flæshlike all unnderrstondenn Þe Laferrd Cristess word, tatt wass Gastlike tunnderrstanndenn. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶259 Of þilk adam..flesschly descendit be we alle. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianogr. i. iii. (1636) 196 If any man taketh it fleshly; it profiteth nothing. |
2. a. Carnally, sensually.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 58 Þu þæt dest eni þing hwarof þer mon is fleschliche ivonded of þe. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶128 Children that whylom loueden so fleshly euerich other. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 4 Nature can loue naturally, that is, fleshly..but not holily. |
b. In the way of sexual intercourse, sexually; = carnally adv. 2.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 77 Na mon mine likame irineð ne mid me flesliche nefde to donne. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2009 Ȝyf þou euer þy wyfe lay by Yn tyme of penaunce, to seye flesshely..Þou synnest gretly. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. cc. 224 He put her nat from his bedde, nor yet delte w{supt} her flesshely. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xxxiii. 155 b, If.. he was found not able to live with her so fleshly, as his youth required. |
3. Comb., as fleshly-wise adj.
| 1542 Becon Pathw. Prayer xviii. I j a, Seme it neuer so godly, vertuous and good in the syght of fleshly wyse men. |