a. [f. as prec. + BITTEN ppl. a.]
1. Bitten by (or infested with) fleas.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. iii. III. (1676), 127. Redness of the face and itching, as if they were flea-bitten, or stung with Pis-mires, from a sharp subtile wind.
c. 1626. Dick of Devon, V. i., in Bullen, O. Pl. (1883), II. 87. In my fleabitten Trundle bed.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic. (1779), IV. lxxxvii. 36. You are worse than a dog, you old flinty-faced, flea-bitten scrub.
1823. Maginn, The Night Walker, in Blackw. Mag., XIV. Nov., 508/2. By two o’clock, however, the riotous get pretty well disposed of; some snug and flea-bitten, in their own personal garrets, more (and still flea-bitten) in the compters of the police.
2. Of the colour of a horse, dog, etc.: Having bay or sorrel spots or streaks, upon a lighter ground.
1570. Will of Bartillmew (Somerset Ho.). Geldinge flea-bitten colour.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 116 b. The fleabitten horse prooveth alwaies good in travell.
1685. Lond. Gaz., No. 2032/4. A Lusty strong well spread gray Gelding … beginning to be Flea-bitten about the Head and Neck.
1846. E. Jesse, Anecd. Dogs, 282. We now see them [pointers] either completely liver-coloured, or of a flea-bitten blue or grey, or else black, with fine sterns showing much blood, and extremely thin ears.
1863. Times, 21 May. A tall and very powerful flea-bitten gray.
Hence Flea-bittenness.
1837. Fraser’s Mag., XVI. Nov., 532/1. It would be a wonder if the erudition of this work were not on a par with its writing, and that the mares’-nests of its discovery were amply suited by the flea-bittenness of its style.
