flense

American

[flens] / flɛns /

Also flench

verb (used with object)

flensed, flensing

to strip the blubber or the skin from (a whale, seal, etc.).
to strip off (blubber or skin).

flense British

/ flɛns, flɪntʃ, flɛntʃ /

verb

(tr) to strip (a whale, seal, etc) of (its blubber or skin)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

flenser noun

Etymology

Origin of flense

1805–15; < Danish flense or Dutch flensen

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It took us two hours to kill our first whale, and four to flense it.

From Peter the Whaler by Austin, Henry

I scarcely believe that in the course of the day we met with a single piece of ice large enough to flense a seal upon.

From The Voyage of the Vega round Asia and Europe, Volume I and Volume II by Leslie, Alexander, fl. 1879-1882

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023