I. flesh 1 W3 /fleʃ/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: flæsc ]
1 . the soft part of the body of a person or animal that is between the skin and the bones:
a freshwater fish with firm white flesh
2 . the skin of the human body:
His flesh was red and covered in sores.
3 .
the soft part of a fruit or vegetable that can be eaten:
Cut the melon in half and scoop out the flesh.
4 . in the flesh if you see someone in the flesh, you see someone who you previously had only seen in pictures, films etc:
He looked much shorter in the flesh than on television.
5 . make sb’s flesh creep/crawl to make someone feel frightened, nervous, or uncomfortable:
The way he stared at her made her flesh creep.
6 . your own flesh and blood someone who is part of your family:
How can he treat his own flesh and blood that way?
7 . the flesh literary the physical human body, as opposed to the mind or spirit
the pleasures/desires/temptations of the flesh (=things such as drinking, eating a lot, or having sex)
8 . put flesh on something British English to give more details about something to make it clear, more interesting etc SYN flesh something ↔ out :
I’ll try to put some flesh on the plan Margaret has outlined.
9 . go the way of all flesh literary to die
⇨ get your pound of flesh at ↑ pound 1 (5), ⇨ press the flesh at ↑ press 2 (14), ⇨ the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak at ↑ spirit 1 (16)
II. flesh 2 BrE AmE verb
flesh something ↔ out phrasal verb
to add more details to something in order to make it clear, more interesting etc SYN put flesh on something :
You need to flesh out your argument with a few more examples.