peel.
To remove the skin or outer covering of.
Meaning & usage
To remove the skin or outer covering of.
I sat by my sister's bed, peeling oranges for her.
To remove something from the outer or top layer of.
I peeled (the skin from) a banana and ate it hungrily.
We peeled the old wallpaper off in strips where it was hanging loose.
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.
To remove one's clothing.
The children peeled by the side of the lake and jumped in.
To move, separate (off or away).
The scrum-half peeled off and made for the touchlines.
Where this word comes from
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.
The skin or outer layer of a fruit, vegetable, etc.
The action of peeling away from a formation.
A cosmetic preparation designed to remove dead skin or to exfoliate.
Where this word comes from
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.
A stake.
A fence made of stakes; a stockade.
A small tower, fort, or castle; a keep.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English peel, pele, from Anglo-Norman pel (compare modern French pieu), from Latin pālus (“stake”). Doublet of pole and pale.
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.
A T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry.
The blade of an oar.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English pele, from Old French pele (modern French pelle), from Latin pāla, from the base of plangō (“fix, plant”). Doublet of pala.
An equal or match; a draw.
A takeout which removes a stone from play as well as the delivered stone.
Where this word comes from
Unknown.
To play a peel shot.
Where this word comes from
Unknown.
To send through a hoop (of a ball other than one's own).
Where this word comes from
Named from Walter H. Peel, a noted 19th-century croquet player.
To plunder; to pillage, rob.
Where this word comes from
From Old French piller (“pillage”).
Alternative form of peal (“a small or young salmon”).
Misspelling of peal (“to sound loudly”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.