peel

present singular third person peels · participle present peeling · participle past peeled · past peeled

1. transitiveTo remove the skin or outer covering of.

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

   1 more example

   The skillful shepherd peeled me certain wands.

   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]

   Synonyms: skin, strip, desquamate

2. transitiveTo remove something from the outer or top layer of.

   I peeled (the skin from) a banana and ate it hungrily.

   1 more example

   We peeled the old wallpaper off in strips where it was hanging loose.

3. intransitiveTo 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. intransitiveTo remove one's clothing.

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

   Synonyms: disrobe, strip

5. intransitiveTo move, separate (off or away).

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

plural peels

1. uncountableusuallyThe skin or outer layer of a fruit, vegetable, etc.

   Synonyms: rind, zest

2. countableball gamesThe action of peeling away from a formation.
3. countableA cosmetic preparation designed to remove dead skin or to exfoliate.

plural peels

1. obsoleteA stake.
2. obsoleteA fence made of stakes; a stockade.
3. archaicA small tower, fort, or castle; a keep.

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.

   Near-synonym: pizza paddle

   1 more example

   “I will hit you with this pizza peel.” “I'll hit you with this wrench.” “All right, all right, I know we want to hit each other to death, but what if we didn't?” “Not happening, Green. There's enough peel here for you and the captain.”

   2026 June 5, Justin Michael, “I'm Just Venting” (3:25 from the start), in Among Us, season 1, episode 9, spoken by Purple (Ashley Johnson)

   Synonyms: pizza peel, pizza paddle

2. A T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry.
3. USarchaicThe blade of an oar.

plural peels

1. Scotlandball gamesAn equal or match; a draw.
2. ball gamesA takeout which removes a stone from play as well as the delivered stone.

present singular third person peels · participle present peeling · participle past peeled · past peeled

1. ball gamesTo play a peel shot.

present singular third person peels · participle present peeling · participle past peeled · past peeled

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

present singular third person peels · participle present peeling · participle past peeled · past peeled

1. archaictransitiveTo plunder; to pillage, rob.

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

   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

   1 more example

   O conſider my caſe, moſt blisfull Queen, […] Diſpell thoſe Clouds which hover 'twixt my King and his higheſt Counſell, […] that my great Law-making Court be forced to turn no more to polemicall Committees, […] but that they may come again to the old Parliamentary Rode, To the path of their Predeceſſours, to conſult of means how to ſweep away thoſe Cobwebs that hang in the Courts of Juſtice, and to make the Laws run in their right Channell; to retrench exceſſive fees, and finde remedies for the future, that the poor Client be not ſo peeled by his Lawyer, and made to ſuffer by ſuch monſtrous delays, that one may go from one Tropick to the other, and croſſe the Equinoctiall twenty times, before his ſute be done; […]

   1645, James Howell, “England’s Tears, for the Present Wars, which for the Nature of the Quarrel, the Quality of the Strength, the Diversity of Battels, Skirmishes, Encounters, and Sieges, (Happened in so Short a Compasse of Time) Cannot be Parallel’d in Any Precedent Age”, in ΔΕΝΔΡΟΛΟΓΊΑ [DENDROLOGIA]: Dodona’s Grove, or The Vocall Forrest. The Third Edition More Exact and Perfect than the Former; with the Addition of Two Other Tracts: viz. Englands Tears for the Present Wars. And The Pre-eminence of Parlements, 3rd edition, Cambridge: Printed by R. D. for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at his shop at the Prince's Arms in S. Pauls Church-yard, →OCLC, page 189

plural peels

1. alternativeAlternative form of peal (“a small or young salmon”).

1. misspellingMisspelling of peal (“to sound loudly”).

   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.

   2 more examples

   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;

   As the tiny Virgin... approaches one of the barrio churches, bells peel vigorously, a brass band launches into a fast-paced tune, and large rockets zoom... .

   2006, Miles Richardson, Being-In-Christ and Putting Death in Its Place, Louisiana State University Press, →ISBN, pages 230–231

plural Peels · alternative Peal · alternative Peall

1. countableA surname.

   Robert Peel, former British Prime Minister.

2. A placename:
   1. countableuncountableA town in the Isle of Man (OS grid ref SC2484).
   2. countableuncountableA former county in Ontario, Canada, abolished in 1974.
   3. countableuncountableA regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, created in 1974.
   4. countableuncountableA locality in the Bathurst council area, central eastern New South Wales, Australia.
   5. countableuncountableA region south of Perth, Western Australia.