The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fleam \Fleam\, n. [F. flamme, OF. flieme, fr. LL. flevotomum, phlebotomum; cf. D. vlijm. See Phlebotomy.] (Surg. & Far.) A sharp instrument used for opening veins, lancing gums, etc.; a kind of lancet.
Fleam tooth, a tooth of a saw shaped like an isosceles
triangle; a peg tooth.
--Knight.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"sharp instrument for opening veins in bloodletting," late Old English, from Old French flieme (Modern French flamme), from Medieval Latin fletoma, from Late Latin flebotomus, from Greek phlebotomos "a lancet" (see phlebotomy).
Wiktionary
n. A sharp instrument used to open a vein, to lance gums, or the like.
Wikipedia
A fleam, also flem, flew, flue, fleame, or phleam, was a handheld instrument used for bloodletting.
Usage examples of "fleam".
They were all men who lived with horses and professed to love them, though none knew how to bleed a horse for that was a job left to servants, but finally a Scottish major averred that he had a shrewd idea of how the thing was done, and so he was given the fleam and its hammer.
He took off his red coat, chose a fleam blade at random and stepped up to the shivering stallion.
The fleam looked like a mis-shapen penknife, and inside its brass case were folded a dozen blades.
The fleam sliced through hair and skin and flesh straight into the vein, and the horse reared up, but Sharpe, expecting the reaction, held the fleam in place as warm blood spurted out over his shako.
By relaxing the pressure on the fleam he could lessen the blood flow and after a while he slowed it to a trickle and then, when the horse had stopped shivering, Sharpe pulled the blade free.
Sharpe, expecting the reaction, held the fleam in place as warm blood spurted out over his shako.
Sheathing Fleam, Rol let his hands run across the stone, feeling for cracks and handholds.
One ball struck Fleam square on the blade and almost spun her out of his grasp.
He felt with one hand behind his right shoulder and met the reassuring coldness of Fleam in a back-scabbard.
Rol stood with Fleam naked in his fist, turning this way and that, clinking airborne coals away from his face.
He came at Rol next, and Fleam jumped into the air between them, a living thing of steel.
Psellos gave a great gargling cry, and Fleam clanged to the floor between them.
The blood jetted out smoking and black and Fleam trembled in his hands.
In his fist the new-moon length of Fleam began to shake and shine, bloody over the hilt.
The awful laughter continued to cackle out of his throat, and from his eyes now the smoking whiteness spilled out and Fleam began to glow white and the blood boiled off her hot steel.