fleam

Meaning

Noun

• A sharp instrument used to open a vein, to lance gums, or the like.
• The watercourse or runoff from a mill; millstream
• A large trench or gully cut into a meadow in order to drain it

Related

Broader meaning words

• lancet

Origin

• From Middle English fleme, fleom, from Old French flieme, flemie, probably via a Proto-Germanic source (compare Old Saxon flēma, Old High German fliotuma, fliodema, Old English flȳtme, flītme), borrowed from Vulgar Latin fletoma, *fletomus, from Late Latin flebotomus, phlebotomus, from Ancient Greek φλεβοτόμον. Compare French flamme, Dutch vlijm, German Fliete, Danish flitte ("fleam"). phlebotome.
• From Middle English fleem, flem, probably from Old English flēam ("fleeing; flight; rush"), from Proto-Germanic *flaumaz ("stream; current; flood"), from Proto-Indo-European *plew- ("to fly; flow; run"). Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk flaum ("flood").