1. [n]  outer coat of especially sheep and yaks
2. [n]  a soft bulky fabric with deep pile; used chiefly for clothing
3. [n]  tanned skin of a sheep with the fleece left on; used for clothing
4. [n]  the wool of a sheep or similar animal
5. [v]  shear the wool from; "shear sheep"
6. [v]  rip off; ask an unreasonable price

1. \Fleece\, n. [OE. flees, AS. fle['o]s; akin to D. flies,
   vlies .]
   1. The entire coat of wood that covers a sheep or other
      similar animal; also, the quantity shorn from a sheep, or
      animal, at one time.
            Who shore me Like a tame wether, all my precious
            fleece.                               --Milton.
   2. Any soft woolly covering resembling a fleece.
   3. (Manuf.) The fine web of cotton or wool removed by the
      doffing knife from the cylinder of a carding machine.
   {Fleece wool}, wool shorn from the sheep.
   {Golden fleece}. See under {Golden}.
   

2. \Fleece\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Fleeced}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Fleecing}.]
   1. To deprive of a fleece, or natural covering of wool.
   2. To strip of money or other property unjustly, especially
      by trickery or fraud; to bring to straits by oppressions
      and exactions.
            Whilst pope and prince shared the wool betwixt them,
            the people were finely fleeced.       --Fuller.
   3. To spread over as with wool. [R.] --Thomson.
   

the wool of a sheep, whether shorn off or still attached to the skin (Deut. 18:4; Job 31:20). The miracle of Gideon's fleece (Judg. 6:37-40) consisted in the dew having fallen at one time on the fleece without any on the floor, and at another time in the fleece remaining dry while the ground was wet with dew.