Flem

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To chase off or drive away someone or something, an old usage now rarely seen ; a small sharp lancet once used to bleed horses and cattle
2. An archaic verb meaning to put to flight or scatter ; a variant spelling of fleam, a blade used to open a vein for bloodletting
3. Obsolete term for driving someone off in retreat ; a surgical instrument, a lancet employed in past times for letting blood from livestock

Etymology: In Old English, "flēman" meant to put to flight, drive out, or banish, and it came from "flēam", meaning flight or escape. A person who was flemed was chased off or driven from their home or land, so the verb described a forced departure rather than a gentle leaving. The word survived into Middle English, where "flemen" carried the same sense of driving away or exiling. It fell out of general use, and the modern English form is now mostly confined to older writing and dialect. Its root, "flēam", is closely related to the idea of fleeing, which is why the verb's sense stayed tied to escape and expulsion.