Fleece is a general term for a soft fabric (often with a deep pile), and may refer to:
- A fleece, the woollen coat of a domestic sheep or long-haired goat, especially after having been sheared (but before being processed into yarn or thread).
- Polar fleece and related modern synthetic materials used to make cool-weather clothing
- Horticultural fleece, used to protect plants from low temperatures or insect pests
- The Golden Fleece of Greek mythology
- To fleece someone, slang term for causing someone to be ripped off, or an unfair transaction
Famous quotes containing the word fleece:
“Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go;
He followed her to school one day—
That was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.”
—Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (1788–1879)
“Every new stroke of civilization has cost the lives of countless brave men, who have fallen defeated by the “dragon,” in their efforts to win the apples of the Hesperides, or the fleece of gold. Fallen in their efforts to overcome the old, half sordid savagery of the lower stages of creation, and win the next stage.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“And what do I care if she marries another? every other night I dream of her dresses and things on an endless clothesline of bliss, in a ceaseless wind of possession, and her husband shall never learn what I do to the silks and fleece of the dancing witch. This is love’s supreme accomplishment. I am happy—yes, happy! What more can I do to prove it, how to proclaim that I am happy? Oh, to shout it so that all of you believe me at last, you cruel, smug people.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)