From Middle English flayen, flaien, fleien, from Old English flīeġan ("to cause to fly, put to flight, frighten"), from Proto-Germanic *flaugijaną (“to let fly, cause to fly”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”).
Meanings
(Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal) A fright; a scare.
(Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal) Fear; a source of fear; a formidable matter; a fearsome or repellent-looking person.
From Middle English flayen, flaien, fleien, from Old English flīeġan ("to cause to fly, put to flight, frighten"), from Proto-Germanic *flaugijaną (“to let fly, cause to fly”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”).
Meanings
(Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive) To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).
(Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive) To frighten; scare; terrify.
If they'd let me have my way, I could have flayed him into shape 1979, “The Trial”, in The Wall, performed by Pink Floyd:
(Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, intransitive) To be fear-stricken.
From Middle English flen, from Old English flēan, from Proto-West Germanic *flahan, from Proto-Germanic *flahaną.
Meanings
To strip the skin off; to skin.
The farmer flayed him as he had the bear, and so he had both bear-skin and fox-skin. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 113: