Fleeces

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A type of fabric made from synthetic fibers, often used to make warm garments and blankets
2. A term for those who deceive or swindle others, particularly in the context of financial scams
3. A kind of soft, warm material typically crafted from synthetic substances and widely utilized in clothing and blankets; A colloquial expression for individuals who financially exploit or take advantage of others through deceit; Referring to a fabric used primarily in cozy wear while also indicating people who engage in trickery to defraud someone out of money or belongings

Etymology: "Fleeces" is the plural form of "fleece," and the noun "fleece" comes from Middle English "fles," "flees," or "flese," which descends from Old English "flēos," "flīes," or "flȳs." Those Old English forms trace back to a Proto-West Germanic reconstruction "*fleus," the ancestor of the wool covering a sheep. The sense of swindling is the verb's, and it is a figurative extension of shearing. To fleece someone is to strip them of their money the way a shearer strips a sheep of its wool, taking the valuable covering while the animal is left bare. The plural "fleeces" here refers to the people being swindled or, in the sense given, to those who swindle them, and it inherits this meaning from the verb's figurative use.

Synonyms: wool, sheep skin