Definition of "fleshly"
fleshly
adjective
comparative fleshlier, superlative fleshliest
Quotations
[…] in the body of this fleshly land,This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,Hostility and civil tumult reignsBetween my conscience and my cousin’s death.
c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii]
Of, relating to or resembling flesh; composed of flesh; having a lot of flesh.
Quotations
In almost all birds, except the carnivorous kinds, the male seems to have more power of development, which appears in their greater height, the strength of their muscles, and in certain excrescences, as fleshly membranes, spurs, &c. […]
1793, uncredited translator, The Natural History of Birds by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, London: A. Strahan, T. Cadell and J. Murray, Volume 2, pp. 52-53
Of or relating to pleasurable (often sexual) sensations.
Quotations
A wave of desire for furious fleshly enjoyments went through him, making him want steaming dishes of food drenched in rich, spice-flavored sauces; making him want to get drunk on strong wine; to roll on thick carpets in the arms of naked, libidinous women.
1921, John Dos Passos, Three Soldiers, New York: Modern Library, published 1932, Part 4, Chapter 2, p. 238
Of or relating to non-spiritual or non-religious matters.
Quotations
Opposition may become sweet to a man when he has christened it persecution: a self-obtrusive, over-hasty reformer complacently disclaiming all merit, while his friends call him a martyr, has not in reality a career the most arduous to the fleshly mind.
1857, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[.] Chapter 8”, in Scenes of Clerical Life [...] In Two Volumes, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published January 1858
adverb
comparative more fleshly, superlative most fleshly
(archaic) In a sensual way; in a sexual way; carnally.
Quotations
Syr said Launcelot ye saye that that good knyȝt is my sone That ouȝtest thow to knowe and no man better said the good man / For thow knewest the doughter of kyng Pelles flesshely / and on her thow begattest Galahad / And that was he that at the feest of Pentecost satte in the sege peryllous(please add an English translation of this quotation)
1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XV