What would they be trying to do if someone tried to 'flay you down'?

Answer 1

To flay me down would mean that I was to be tied so that all parts of my body were tensed and then someone using a very fine, very thin very sharp knife would run it through my outer skin in parallel lines from the legs to the neck. Depending on the punishment, these strips would then be pulled off or cut off using a filleting knife until there was no skin, only the underlying tissues. I would die from this. In other practices, the skin would not be removed but salt would be rubbed into the wounds creating permanent scars that would mark me for whatever crime this represented. In some cases only the face is done or specific body parts according to the local laws and practices. In some cases the flaying is done with the knife on a long leather thong and an expert at flaying swings the flay to just make the above described cuts. These are at once tortures and punishments in certain society. The only exception, from the 18th century were sailors who were heavily tattooed and, in a ritual similar to the Mokas done in Polynesia, Melanesia and among the Maoris, had slices made into their buttocks to represent the underside of a whale.

There are of course, other meanings to the word but, as asked, that would be my answer.