To Fleece Someone Is to Shear Them
A fleece is a sheep's coat. The verb means to defraud, and the metaphor is agricultural.
A fleece is the woolly coat of a sheep, and now also a soft synthetic jacket. The verb comes straight from farming: to fleece someone is to strip them of their money as a shearer strips a sheep. English has several such metaphors — *to skin*, *to milk*, *to bleed dry* — all of them agricultural in origin and unkind in application.
- A sheep's wool coat. *A heavy fleece.*
- A synthetic jacket. *Wearing a fleece.*
- To defraud. *Fleeced by a conman.*
- Golden Fleece — the object of Jason's quest. *In search of the Golden Fleece.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | fleece | A thick fleece. |
| Plural | fleeces | Baled fleeces. |
| Verb | fleece | Fleeced of savings. |
| Adjective | fleecy | Fleecy clouds. |
| Related | shear | Shear the flock. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The tourists were fleeced.Overcharged or defrauded.
- A fleece jacket is polyester.Named for the texture, not the source.
- Fleecy clouds covered the sky.Woolly in appearance.
Farming metaphors for exploitation
- Fleece — to strip of money
- Milk — to extract steadily
- Skin — to charge excessively
- Bleed dry — to exhaust resources
- Harvest — to gather, often of data
From Old English *fleos*, of Germanic origin. The synthetic fabric was developed in 1979 and took the name from its texture.
Is a fleece jacket made of wool?
No. Modern fleece fabric is usually polyester, often from recycled bottles. It took the name from its woolly texture.
What was the Golden Fleece?
In Greek myth, the fleece of a winged ram, sought by Jason and the Argonauts.