flensed; flensing

transitive verb

: to strip of blubber or skin
flense a whale

Examples of flense in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Two dozen students flense the whale today; in a year-and-a-half, another group will articulate her. Peter Wayne Moe, Longreads, 25 Feb. 2022 With the help of an excavator, great strips of blubber are flensed from Punctuation's body, each landing on the sand with a deep thud. Nick Hawkins, National Geographic, 11 July 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flense.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Dutch flensen or Danish & Norwegian flense

First Known Use

1820, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of flense was in 1820

Dictionary Entries Near flense

Cite this Entry

“Flense.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flense. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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