peel
/piːl/ verb, noun, proper noun
Also a form of peal
Forms peels peeling peeled Peal Peall
- verb (transitive) To remove the skin or outer covering of. “I sat by my sister's bed, peeling oranges for her.”
- verb (transitive) To remove something from the outer or top layer of. “I peeled (the skin from) a banana and ate it hungrily.”
- verb (intransitive) To become detached, come away, especially in flakes or strips; to shed skin in such a way. “I had been out in the sun too long, and my nose was starting to peel.”
- verb (intransitive) To remove one's clothing. “The children peeled by the side of the lake and jumped in.”
- verb (intransitive) To move, separate (off or away). “The scrum-half peeled off and made for the touchlines.”
- noun (usually uncountable) The skin or outer layer of a fruit, vegetable, etc.
- noun (countable, rugby) The action of peeling away from a formation.
- noun (countable) A cosmetic preparation designed to remove dead skin or to exfoliate.
- noun (obsolete) A stake.
- noun (obsolete) A fence made of stakes; a stockade.
- noun (archaic) A small tower, fort, or castle; a keep.
- noun A shovel or similar instrument, now especially a pole with a flat disc at the end used for removing pizza or loaves of bread from a baker's oven.
- noun A T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry.
- noun (archaic, US) The blade of an oar.
- noun (Scotland, curling) An equal or match; a draw.
- noun (curling) A takeout which removes a stone from play as well as the delivered stone.
- verb (curling) To play a peel shot.
- verb (croquet) To send through a hoop (of a ball other than one's own).
- verb (archaic, transitive) To plunder; to pillage, rob.
- proper noun (countable) A surname.
Synonyms
skin strip desquamate disrobe rind zest pizza peel pizza paddle Peel Region Region of Peel Regional Municipality of Peel Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel pare peel off flake off flake undress discase uncase unclothe strip down
Etymology
From Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilō, pilāre (“to remove hair from, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pill.
From Middle English peel, pele, from Anglo-Norman pel (compare modern French pieu), from Latin pālus (“stake”). Doublet of pole and pale.
From Middle English pele, from Old French pele (modern French pelle), from Latin pāla, from the base of plangō (“fix, plant”). Doublet of pala.
Unknown.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small tower, fort, or castle; a keep. [Scot.]
- noun A spadelike implement, variously used, as for removing loaves of bread from a baker's oven; also, a T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry. Also, the blade of an oar.
- verb To plunder; to pillage; to rob. [Obs.]
- verb To strip off the skin, bark, or rind of; to strip by drawing or tearing off the skin, bark, husks, etc.; to flay; to decorticate; as, to peel an orange.
Etymology [OE. pel. Cf. Pile a heap.]
Etymology [F. pelle, L. pala.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “peel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details