pelt
/pɛlt/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms pelts pelting pelted peltest peltedst pelteth
- noun The skin of an animal with the hair or wool on; either a raw or undressed hide, or a skin preserved with the hair or wool on it (sometimes worn as a garment with minimal modification).
- noun (also figuratively) The skin of an animal (especially a goat or sheep) with the hair or wool removed, often in preparation for tanning.
- noun The fur or hair of a living animal.
- noun (chiefly Ireland, humorous, informal) Human skin, especially when bare; also, a person's hair.
- noun A garment made from animal skins.
- noun (falconry) The body of any quarry killed by a hawk; also, a dead bird given to a hawk for food.
- verb To remove the skin from (an animal); to skin.
- verb Chiefly followed by from: to remove (the skin) from an animal.
- verb (obsolete, rare) To remove feathers from (a bird).
- verb To bombard (someone or something) with missiles. “The children are pelting each other with snowballs.”
- verb To force (someone or something) to move using blows or the throwing of missiles.
- verb Of a number of small objects (such as raindrops), or the sun's rays: to beat down or fall on (someone or something) in a shower.
- verb Chiefly followed by at: to (continuously) throw (missiles) at. “The children pelted apples at us.”
- verb (archaic except UK, dialectal) To repeatedly beat or hit (someone or something).
- verb (figuratively) To assail (someone) with harsh words in speech or writing; to abuse, to insult.
- verb Especially of hailstones, rain, or snow: to beat down or fall forcefully or heavily; to rain down. “It’s pelting down out there!”
- verb (figuratively) To move rapidly, especially in or on a conveyance. “I pelted across to where my family was sitting.”
- noun A beating or falling down of hailstones, rain, or snow in a shower.
- noun (archaic except Ireland) A blow or stroke from something thrown.
- noun (archaic except Ireland) A verbal insult; a jeer, a jibe, a taunt.
Synonyms
coat bethwack bang baste batter beat belabor blow boom-boom buffet butt calcitrate cuff dab dash dowse feeze fetch one a blow flap give toco fur hide skin bombard pepper pour stream rain cats and dogs rain buckets
Etymology
The noun is inherited from Middle English pelt (“skin of a sheep, especially without the wool”); further etymology uncertain, possibly:
* from Middle English pellet (“skin of an animal, especially a sheep”), from Anglo-Norman pelette, pellet, and Old French pelete, pelette (“thin layer, film, skin; epidermis; foreskin”), from pel (“skin; garment made of animal skin, pelisse”) (from Latin pellis (“animal skin, hide, pelt; leather; garment made of animal skin”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover; to wrap; hide; skin; cloth”)) + -ete (diminutive suffix); or
* from Late Latin peletta, pelleta, pelletta (“skin of an animal, especially a sheep”).
Related to fell, pilch, film. Also compare Old Norse feldr (“pelt”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
* Norwegian Bokmål pels (“fur; fur coat”)
* Norwegian Nynorsk pels (“fur; fur coat”)
The verb is derived from Late Middle English pelt, pelte; further origin uncertain, probably a variant of Late Middle English pilten (“to push, thrust; to strike; to cast down, humble; to incite, induce; to place, put; to extend, reach forward with”) [and other forms], possibly from Old English *pyltan, from Late Latin *pultiare, from Latin pultāre (“to beat, knock, strike”), the frequentative of pellere, the present active infinitive of pellō (“to drive, impel, propel, push; to hurl; to banish, eject, expel, thrust out; to beat, strike; to set in motion”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat; to drive, push”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Uncertain; possibly related to pelting (“mean, paltry”) (obsolete), peltry (“rubbish, trash; an unpleasant thing”) (chiefly Scotland, obsolete), and paltry (“of little value, trashy, trivial; contemptibly unimportant, despicable”), possibly from a Germanic language such as Middle Low German palte, palter (“cloth; rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth; rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“patch; rag, scrap”). The ultimate origin is uncertain, but the word is possibly a wanderwort from *polto- (“cloth”).
Uncertain; possibly related to palter (“to talk insincerely; to prevaricate or equivocate in speech or actions; to haggle; to babble, chatter; (rare) to trifle”), further etymology unknown. The Oxford English Dictionary takes the view that any relation to pelting (“mean, paltry”) (obsolete) and paltry (“of little value, trashy, trivial; contemptibly unimportant, despicable”) is unlikely.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The skin of a beast with the hair on; a raw or undressed hide; a skin preserved with the hairy or woolly covering on it. See 4th Fell.
- noun The human skin. [Jocose] Dryden.
- verb To strike with something thrown or driven; to assail with pellets or missiles, as, to pelt with stones; pelted with hail.
- verb To throw; to use as a missile.
Etymology [Cf. G. pelz a pelt, fur, fr. OF. pelice, F. pelisse (see Pelisse); or perh. shortened fr. peltry.]
Etymology [OE. pelten, pulten, pilten, to thrust, throw, strike; cf. L. pultare, equiv. to pulsare (v. freq. fr. pellere to drive), and E. pulse a beating.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pelt”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details