Adjacent Words

Peel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PEEL, v.t. [L. pilo, to pull off hair and to pillage; pilus, the hair.]
1. To strip off skin, bark or rind without a cutting instrument; to strip by drawing or tearing off the skin; to bark; to flay; to decorticate. When a knife is used, we call it paring. Thus we say, to peel a tree, to peel an orange; but we say, to pare an apple to pare land.
2. In a general sense, to remove the skin, bark or rind, even with an instrument.
3. To strip; to plunder; to pillage; as, to peel a province or conquered people.
PEEL, n. [L. pellis.] The skin or rind of any thing; as the peel of an orange.
PEEL, n. [L. pala; pello; Eng. shovel, from shove; or from spreading.] A kind of wooden shovel used by bakers, with a broad palm and long handle; hence, in popular use in America, any large fire-shovel.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: British politician (1788-1850) [syn: Peel, Robert Peel, Sir Robert Peel]
2: the rind of a fruit or vegetable [syn: peel, skin] v
1: strip the skin off; "pare apples" [syn: skin, peel, pare]
2: come off in flakes or thin small pieces; "The paint in my house is peeling off" [syn: peel off, peel, flake off, flake]
3: get undressed; "please don't undress in front of everybody!"; "She strips in front of strangers every night for a living" [syn: undress, discase, uncase, unclothe, strip, strip down, disrobe, peel] [ant: apparel, clothe, dress, enclothe, fit out, garb, garment, get dressed, habilitate, raiment, tog]

Merriam Webster's

I. biographical name Sir Robert 1788-1850 English statesman II. geographical name river 425 miles (684 kilometers) NW Canada rising in W Yukon Territory & flowing E & N into the Mackenzie

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: Middle English pelen, from Anglo-French peler, from Latin pilare to remove the hair from, from pilus hair Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. to strip off an outer layer of <peel an orange> 2. to remove by stripping <peel the label off the can> intransitive verb 1. a. to come off in sheets or scales b. to lose an outer layer (as of skin) <his face is peeling> 2. to take off one's clothes 3. to break away from a group or formation — often used with off • peelable adjective II. noun Date: 14th century 1. the skin or rind of a fruit 2. a thin layer of organic material that is embedded in a film of collodion and stripped from the surface of an object (as a plant fossil) for microscopic study 3. chemical peel III. noun Etymology: Middle English pele, from Anglo-French, from Latin pala Date: 14th century a usually long-handled spade-shaped instrument that is used chiefly by bakers for getting something (as bread or pies) into or out of the oven IV. noun Etymology: Middle English (Scots) pel, from Middle English, stockade, stake, from Anglo-French, stake, from Latin palus — more at pole Date: 1726 a medieval small massive fortified tower along the Scottish-English border — called also peel tower

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v. & n. --v. 1 tr. a strip the skin, rind, bark, wrapping, etc. from (a fruit, vegetable, tree, etc.). b (usu. foll. by off) strip (skin, peel, wrapping, etc.) from a fruit etc. 2 intr. a (of a tree, an animal's or person's body, a painted surface, etc.) become bare of bark, skin, paint, etc. b (often foll. by off) (of bark, a person's skin, paint, etc.) flake off. 3 intr. (often foll. by off) colloq. (of a person) strip for exercise etc. 4 tr. Croquet send (another player's ball) through the hoops. --n. the outer covering of a fruit, vegetable, prawn, etc.; rind. Phrases and idioms: peel off 1 veer away and detach oneself from a group of marchers, a formation of aircraft, etc. 2 colloq. strip off one's clothes. Derivatives: peeler n. (in sense 1 of v.). Etymology: earlier pill, pele (orig. = plunder) f. ME pilien etc. f. OE pilian (unrecorded) f. L pilare f. pilus hair 2. n. a shovel, esp. a baker's shovel for bringing loaves etc. into or out of an oven. Etymology: ME & OF pele f. L pala, rel. to pangere fix 3. n. (also pele) hist. a small square tower built in the 16th c. in the border counties of England and Scotland for defence against raids. Etymology: ME pel stake, palisade, f. AF & OF pel f. L palus stake: cf. PALE(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peel Peel, v. i. To lose the skin, bark, or rind; to come off, as the skin, bark, or rind does; -- often used with an adverb; as, the bark peels easily or readily.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peel Peel, n. The skin or rind; as, the peel of an orange.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peel Peel, n. [OE. pel. Cf. Pile a heap.] A small tower, fort, or castle; a keep. [Scot.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peel Peel, n. [F. pelle, L. pala.] 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peel Peel, v. t. [Confused with peel to strip, but fr. F. piller to pillage. See Pill to rob, Pillage.] To plunder; to pillage; to rob. [Obs.] But govern ill the nations under yoke, Peeling their provinces. --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peel Peel, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Peeled; p. pr. & vb. n. Peeling.] [F. peler to pull out the hair, to strip, to peel, fr. L. pilare to deprive of hair, fr. pilus a hair; or perh. partly fr. F. peler to peel off the skin, perh. fr. L. pellis skin (cf. Fell skin). Cf. Peruke.] 1. 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. The skillful shepherd peeled me certain wands. --Shak. 2. To strip or tear off; to remove by stripping, as the skin of an animal, the bark of a tree, etc.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(peels, peeling, peeled) 1. The peel of a fruit such as a lemon or an apple is its skin. ...grated lemon peel. • You can also refer to a peel. (AM) ...a banana peel. N-COUNT 2. When you peel fruit or vegetables, you remove their skins. She sat down in the kitchen and began peeling potatoes. VERB: V n 3. If you peel off something that has been sticking to a surface or if it peels off, it comes away from the surface. One of the kids was peeling plaster off the wall... It took me two days to peel off the labels... Paint was peeling off the walls... The wallpaper was peeling away close to the ceiling. ...an unrenovated bungalow with slightly peeling blue paint. VERB: V n off/from n, V n with off/away, V off/from n, V off/away, V-ing 4. If a surface is peeling, the paint on it is coming away. Its once-elegant white pillars are peeling. VERB: usu cont, V 5. If you are peeling or if your skin is peeling, small pieces of skin are coming off, usually because you have been burned by the sun. His face, at the moment, was peeling from sunburn. VERB: usu cont, V

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Pare (by cutting), bark, flay, decorticate. 2. Strip off, remove by stripping. II. v. n. Exfoliate, come off(as skin or rind), peel off. III. n. Rind, skin.

Moby Thesaurus

abscind, acropolis, amputate, annihilate, ban, bar, bark, bastion, beachhead, blockhouse, bob, bran, bridgehead, bunker, capsule, case, castle, chaff, citadel, clip, coat, coating, collop, cork, corn shuck, cornhusk, cortex, covering, crop, cull, cut, cut away, cut off, cut out, deal, decorticate, defoliate, denude, descale, desquamate, disk, dismember, disrobe, dock, donjon, draw and quarter, eliminate, enucleate, epicarp, eradicate, except, excise, exclude, excoriate, exfoliate, extinguish, extirpate, fasthold, fastness, feuille, film, flake off, flap, flay, foil, fold, fort, fortress, garrison, garrison house, hold, hull, husk, isolate, jacket, keep, knock off, lacerate, lamella, lamina, laminated glass, laminated wood, lap, leaf, lop, maim, mangle, martello, martello tower, membrane, mote, motte, mutilate, nip, palea, pane, panel, pare, patina, peel off, peel tower, peeling, pellicle, phellum, pick out, pick to pieces, pillbox, plait, plank, plate, plating, ply, plywood, pod, post, prune, pull apart, rasher, rath, rind, root out, rule out, safehold, safety glass, scale, scalp, scum, set apart, set aside, shave, shear, sheet, shell, shred, shuck, skin, slab, slat, slice, stamp out, strike off, strip, strip off, strong point, stronghold, table, tablet, take apart, take off, take out, tear apart, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, tower, tower of strength, truncate, uncovered, undress, veneer, wafer, ward, wipe out