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# flea

noun (a flea, fleas)

«flea» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A very small jumping insect without wings that lives on the skin and fur of animals and people and sucks their blood. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#m1)
2. Flea market: a market where people sell old and second-hand things cheaply. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#m2)

### In the lessons

In everyday life fleas are a problem for pet cats and dogs: they make them scratch, and pets need flea treatment. In science fleas are parasites — they live on another animal and harm it; they can jump many times their own length. In history, fleas on rats spread the plague (the Black Death). Phrases: flea collar, flea treatment, flea bite, flea market, a flea in your ear (a scolding, British).

### Examples

- Our dog kept scratching because it had fleas. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#x1)
- The vet gave the cat flea treatment. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#x2)
- A flea can jump more than a hundred times its own length. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#x3)
- We bought old comics at the flea market. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#x4)
- Flea bites leave small itchy red spots. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#x5)
- Fleas are parasites that drink blood. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#x6)
- Long ago, fleas on rats spread a deadly disease called the plague. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/#x7)

### Note

Homophone trap: «flea» (insect) and «flee» (to run away from danger) sound the same: The fleas fled? No — people flee from fire; fleas live on dogs.

## In Jewish tradition

David calls himself a flea to show how small and harmless he is, so that King Saul should not chase him.

**Interpretation.** Tradition reads this as David's humility, and as a way of showing that Saul's pursuit is out of proportion.

### Examples

- After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. (Prophets 1SA.24.15, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/F/flea/#x1)
- Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD; for the king of Israel is come out to seek a single flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.' (Prophets 1SA.26.20, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/F/flea/#x2)

### Note

Homophone trap: «flea» (insect) and «flee» (to run away from danger) sound the same: The fleas fled? No — people flee from fire; fleas live on dogs.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «flea» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flea/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«flea» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/flea.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «flea» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/F/flea/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«flea» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/flea.html) on Mova free.