pelt
See also: Pelt
English
Etymology 1
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Borrowed from Old French pelette, diminutive of pel (“a skin”), from Latin pellis. Alternatively a contraction of peltry (“skins”) from the same Old French and Latin roots. Norwegian pels, Norwegian belte
Pronunciation
Noun
pelt (plural pelts)
- 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.
- 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
- They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too. […].
- The body of any quarry killed by a hawk.
- (humorous) Human skin.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
Related terms
Translations
skin of a beast with the hair on
|
body of quarry killed by a hawk
human skin — see also skin
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Etymology 2
Possible contraction of pellet
Verb
pelt (third-person singular simple present pelts, present participle pelting, simple past and past participle pelted)
- (transitive) To bombard, as with missiles.
- They pelted the attacking army with bullets.
- (transitive) To throw; to use as a missile.
- The children pelted apples at us.
- (intransitive) To rain or hail heavily.
- It's pelting down out there!
- (transitive) To beat or hit, especially repeatedly.
- (intransitive) To move rapidly, especially in or on a conveyance.
- The boy pelted down the hill on his toboggan.
- 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian[1]:
- While we choose and buy our purchases with mere inch-wide movements of our thumbs, they are busy rearranging the physical world so that our deliveries pelt towards us in ever-quicker time.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To throw out words.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Another smothered seems to pelt and swear.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
Translations
to bombard
|
to throw
to rain heavily
|
to throw out words
to beat or hit repeatedly
to move rapidly
Noun
pelt (plural pelts)
- A blow or stroke from something thrown.
- 2013, Karen-Anne Stewart, Healing Rain (page 134)
- Kas is awakened by the furious pelts of rain hitting the tin roof, and he rolls over, pulling his sleeping wife tightly into his arms.
- 2013, Karen-Anne Stewart, Healing Rain (page 134)
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pelt”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
pelt
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Old French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Norwegian
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛlt
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English humorous terms
- Requests for quotations/Dryden
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Requests for date/Shakespeare
- en:Gaits
- en:Hides
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms