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Flea

as a parasite.

“Hobbes clearly proves that every creature

Lives in a state of war by nature;

So naturalists observe a flea

Has smaller fleas that on him prey,

And these have smaller still to bite ʹem,

And so proceed ad infinitum.”


Swift: Poetry: a Rhapsody.

Sent off with a flea in his ear. Peremptorily. A dog which has a flea in the ear is very restless, and runs off in terror and distress. In French: Mettre à quelquʹun puce à lʹoreille. Probably our change of word implies a pun.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Flash Men and Flash Notes
Flat
Flat-fish
Flat Milk
Flat Race (A)
Flat Simplicity
Flatterer
Flatterers
Flay a Fox (To)
Flea
Flea
Flea-bite
Flea’s Jump
Fleance
Flèche
Flecknoe (Richard)
Fledgeby
Flee the Falcon (To)
Fleeced
Fleet Book Evidence
Fleet Marriages