I. ˈpēl, esp before pause or consonant -ēəl noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English pele, from Old English pyle — more at pillow
dialect England : pillow
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English pelen to rob, peel, from Middle French peler to peel, remove the hair from, from Latin pilare to remove the hair from, make bald, from pilus hair — more at pile
transitive verb
1. obsolete : pill II 1
2.
a. : to strip off the outer layer of : pare , decorticate
peel an apple
peeling potatoes
machine automatically peels … shrimp — Time
b. : to remove (the outer layer or covering) by stripping, tearing off, or rolling back — usually used with off or from
peeling off the skin of a banana
peeling the white bark from his … trees — E.W.Smith
stamps should never be peeled from the paper — H.M.Ellis
peeled the … shirt off over his head — Kay Boyle
the canvas coverings were peeled back — R.F.Mirvish
c. : to remove part of the bran from (the grains of wheat or rice) by abrasion
3. : to cause (a ball other than one's own) to pass through a wicket in croquet
peeled his partner's ball through the last wicket
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to become detached : come off : scale off : desquamate
sunburned skin peels
the paint was peeling off
the … roof from which shingles were peeling — Ellen Glasgow
b. : to lose the outer layer of skin
his face is peeling
2. : to take off one's clothes
it got hotter … you had to peel to get relief — L.M.Uris
Synonyms: see skin
III. noun
( -s )
1.
a. : the skin or rind of a fruit
letting the peels drop on the floor — Truman Capote
b. : such rind candied
orange peel
2. : a thin layer of organic material embedded in a film of collodion and stripped from the surface of an object (as a plant fossil) for microscopic study
IV. noun
also peel tower
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English pel, pele castle, stockade, stake, from Anglo-French pel, pele stockade & Middle French pel stake, from Latin palus stake — more at pole
: a medieval small massive fortified tower along the Scottish-English border having a usually vaulted ground floor for confining and protecting cattle and a floor above for the family dwelling place reached by outside movable stairs or a ladder
V. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English pele shovel, oven peel, from Middle French, shovel, from Latin pala spade, oven peel; probably akin to Latin pangere to fix, fasten, plant — more at pact
1.
a. : shovel
b. dialect England : a fire shovel
2. : a usually long-handled spade-shaped instrument used chiefly by bakers (as for getting loaves and pies into and out of an oven)
3. : a T-shaped implement formerly in use by printers and papermakers for hanging up sheets of paper to dry
VI.
dialect
variant of peal
VII. ˈpēl, esp before pause or consonant -ēəl transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: origin unknown
Scotland : to equal : match
VIII. noun
( -s )
1. chiefly Scotland : equal , match
2. peels plural , chiefly Scotland : an even game in curling : tie score
it was peels at 8 to 8 in the tenth head — Time
IX.
Scotland
variant of pool
X.
chiefly dialect
variant of pail
XI. intransitive verb
: to break away from a group or formation — often used with off
XII. noun
: the surgical removal of skin imperfections (as blemishes and wrinkles) by the application of a caustic chemical and especially an acid to the skin — called also chemical peel