• IPA: /piːl/
  • IPA: [pʰiːɫ], [pʰiəɫ]

From Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilo, from pilus.

peel (peels, present participle peeling; simple past and past participle peeled)

1. (transitive) To remove the skin or outer covering of.

   I sat by my sister's bed, peeling oranges for her.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:

     The skillful shepherd peeled me certain wands.

2. (transitive) 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.

3. (intransitive) 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.

4. (intransitive) To remove one's clothing.

   The children peeled by the side of the lake and jumped in.

5. (intransitive) To move, separate (off or away).

   The scrum-half peeled off and made for the touchlines.

• (remove outer covering) skin, strip
• (remove clothing) disrobe, strip

• French: (peach,onion) peler, (vegetable,fruit) éplucher, (crustacean) décortiquer
• German: schälen
• Italian: pelare, sbucciare
• Portuguese: descascar, pelar
• Russian: очища́ть
• Spanish: pelar

peel

1. (usually, uncountable) The skin or outer layer of a fruit, vegetable, etc.
2. (countable, rugby) The action of peeling away from a formation.
3. (countable) A cosmetic preparation designed to remove dead skin or to exfoliate.

• (skin of a fruit) rind, zest

• French: (peach,onion) pelure, (vegetable,fruit) épluchure
• German: Schale
• Italian: buccia
• Portuguese: casca
• Russian: кожура́
• Spanish: cáscara

From Middle English peel, pele, from Anglo-Norman pel (compare modern French pieu), from Latin pālus.

peel (plural peels)

1. (obsolete) A stake.
2. (obsolete) A fence made of stakes; a stockade.
3. (archaic) A small tower, fort, or castle; a keep.

From Middle English pele, from Old French pele (modern French pelle), from Latin pāla, from the base of plangō.

peel (plural peels)

1. 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.
2. A T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry.
3. (archaic, US) The blade of an oar.

• French: pelle à four, pelle à enfourner
• German: Brotschieber, Ofenschieber, Ofenschaufel, Backschießer
• Portuguese: pá
• Russian: лопа́та
• Spanish: pala panadero

peel (plural peels)

1. (Scotland, curling) An equal or match; a draw.
2. (curling) A takeout which removes a stone from play as well as the delivered stone.

peel (peels, present participle peeling; simple past and past participle peeled)

1. (curling) To play a peel shot.

Named from Walter H.

peel (peels, present participle peeling; simple past and past participle peeled)

1. (croquet) To send through a hoop (of a ball other than one's own).

From Old French piller.

peel (peels, present participle peeling; simple past and past participle peeled)

1. (archaic, transitive) To plunder; to pillage, rob.
   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain'd. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC ↗, page 4 ↗:

     But govern ill the nations under yoke, / Peeling their provinces.

peel (plural peels)

1. Alternative form of peal

1. Misspelling of peal: to sound loudly.
   • 1825 June 25, "My Village Bells", in The Circulator of Useful Knowledge, Literature, Amusement, and General Information number XXVI, available in, 1825, The Circulator of Useful Amusement, Literature, Science, and General Information, page 401,

     Oh ! still for me let merry bells peel out their holy chime;

   • 1901 January 1, "Twentieth Century's Triumphant Entry", The New York Times, page 1,

     The lights flashed, the crowds sang,... bells peeled, bombs thundered,... and the new Century made its triumphant entry.

1. (countable) Surname.
2. A placename:
   1. A town in Isle of Man (OS grid ref SC2484).
   2. A former county in Ontario, abolished in 1974.
   3. A regional municipality in Southern Ontario, created in 1974.
   4. A region south of Perth.
3. (uncountable) Robert Peel, British Prime Minister.

• (regional municipality) Peel Region, Region of Peel, Regional Municipality of Peel

• French: Peel