fleshy

From Middle English fleisshy, fleischy, fleschi, equivalent to flesh +‎ -y. Piecewise doublet of fleischig.

• IPA^(key): /ˈflɛʃi/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ɛʃi
• Homophone: fleshie

fleshy (comparative fleshier or more fleshy, superlative fleshiest or most fleshy)

1. Of, related to, or resembling flesh.
   • 1850, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in David Copperfield:

     Mr. Creakle . . . showed me the cane, and asked me what I thought of THAT? . . . Did it bite? At every question he gave me a fleshy cut with it that made me writhe.

   • 1901, H. G. Wells, chapter 8, in The First Men in the Moon:

     ver reefs and banks of shining rock, a bristling beard of spiky and fleshy vegetation was straining into view.

2. (of a person) Having considerable flesh; plump.
   • 1894, Anthony Hope, chapter 3, in The Prisoner of Zenda:

     The King's face was slightly more fleshy than mine, the oval of its contour the least trifle more pronounced.

   • 1908, Jack London, The Heathen:

     He was a large fleshy man, weighing at least two hundred pounds, and he quickly became a faithful representation of a quivering jelly-mountain of fat.

   • 2009 January 15, Lisa Abend, “Google Earth Takes On the Prado's Masterworks”, in Time:

     It's hard to imagine why Flemish Renaissance artist Peter Paul Rubens would paint a blemish on the backside of one of the fleshy lovelies meant to represent beauty, charm and good cheer, but there's no denying that single red brushstroke in the midst of his central figure's creamy skin.

3. (oenology) Rich and smooth, with significant body or texture.

   a fleshy wine

• Fleshy is not necessarily negative in connotation (as fat, for example) and may be used to describe men or women.

• (having considerable flesh): corpulent, full-figured, porky, pudgy, well-covered

• (antonym(s) of “having considerable flesh”): bony, slender, slim

• shelfy