Fleynge

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Running away swiftly from danger, as in the Middle English participle of the verb meaning to flee
2. Hurrying off in escape from a threat, the form of the old verb for taking flight that appears in Middle English texts
3. Taking to flight to get away from something feared, a Middle English present participle meaning fleeing or escaping

Etymology: This is a Middle English spelling of a present participle, meaning "flaying" or "fleeing," depending on which verb it belongs to. Middle English spelling was not standardized, so one written form could stand for more than one verb. The "flaying" sense comes from the Old English verb "flēan," meaning to strip the skin from an animal or person, which is the root of the modern verb "flay." Scribes working in the late medieval period wrote the sound with the letters "ey," so the spelling alone does not settle which verb a given passage intends. Readers would have judged that from the surrounding sentence.