flay

Etymology 1

From Middle English flayen, flaien, fleien, from Old English *flīeġan ("to cause to fly, put to flight, frighten"; found only in compounds: āflīeġan), from Proto-Germanic *flaugijaną (“to let fly, cause to fly”), causative of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”).

verb

1. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).
2. (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) 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
3. (intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To be fear-stricken.

noun

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A fright; a scare.
2. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Fear; a source of fear; a formidable matter; a fearsome or repellent-looking individual.

Etymology 2

From Middle English flen, from Old English flēan, from Proto-West Germanic *flahan, from Proto-Germanic *flahaną.

verb

1. 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
2. To lash or whip.