pelt

plural pelts

1. The skin of an animal with the hair or wool on; either a raw or undressed hide, or a skin preserved with the hair or wool on it (sometimes worn as a garment with minimal modification).

   My people got themselves pelts and pelts—there was such a trapping as comes but few times in a life. Pelts and pelts, the silver and the grey—fine pelts.

   1922 July, E[velyn] Charles Vivian, “White Man’s Magic: A Story of the Canadian Mounted Police”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XLV, part 9, London: “Boy’s Own Paper” Office, […], →OCLC, page 617, column 1

   1 more example

   Perhaps the reason why he [a stuffed fox] 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.

   1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 1

2. alsofigurativelyThe skin of an animal (especially a goat or sheep) with the hair or wool removed, often in preparation for tanning.
3. The fur or hair of a living animal.

   Near-synonym: coat

   1 more example

   The Cauſes and the Signs ſhall next be told, / Of ev'ry Sickneſs that infects the Fold [of sheep]. / A ſcabby Tetter on their pelts vvill ſtick, / VVhen the ravv Rain has pierc'd 'em to the quick: […]

   1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 116, lines 670–673

   Synonyms: coat

4. IrelandhumorousinformalHuman skin, especially when bare; also, a person's hair.

   Put on your dress, ye shameless witch, standin' there in your pelt I'll take a strap to, for havin' the conceit out of you, for by your idling had lost me the sup of gin to keep the breath of life in me. Cover your scut, or I'll welt the skin off it.

   1938, Norman Lindsay, chapter XVII, in Age of Consent, London: T[homas] Werner Laurie […], →OCLC, page 177

5. obsoleteA garment made from animal skins.
6. obsoletefalconryThe body of any quarry killed by a hawk; also, a dead bird given to a hawk for food.

   If two [hawks] are flown they are certain to fell the game at once, and the falconer is always flurried by their violent propensity to crab over the "pelt."

   1852, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “A Day with the Bashah”, in Falconry in the Valley of the Indus, London: John Van Voorst, […], →OCLC, page 60

present singular third person pelts · participle present pelting · participle past pelted · past pelted

1. transitiveTo remove the skin from (an animal); to skin.

   Let us take a typical case of a mink farmer here in Connecticut who is being forced to throw in the sponge this coming fall. […] He pelts from 3500 to 4000 minks a year and has a huge investment of several thousand dollars tied up in his mink business.

   1967, James J. Critchley, “The Plight of the U.S. Mink Farmer”, in Import Quotas Legislation: Hearings before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, Ninetieth Congress, First Session on Proposals to Impose Import Quotas on Oil, Steel, Textiles, Meat, Dairy Products, and Other Commodities: Part 1 […], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 108

2. transitiveChiefly followed by from: to remove (the skin) from an animal.

   A gentleman (long agoe) lent him an old velvet ſaddle, […] [He] preſently untruſſeth, and pelts the out-ſide from the lining, […] with it he made him a caſe, or cover, for a dublet, which hath caſed and coverd his nakednes ever ſince: […]

   1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], →OCLC, page 80

3. obsoleteraretransitiveTo remove feathers from (a bird).

   A Man took an Eagle, Pelted her VVings, and put her among his Hens. Somebody came and bought This Eagle, and preſently Nevv-Feather'd her.

   1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] CVII. An Eagle and a Man.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 101

present singular third person pelts · participle present pelting · participle past pelted · past pelted · first person past singular pelted · archaic present second person singular peltest · past second person singular pelted · archaic past second person singular peltedst · present singular third person pelts · archaic present singular third person pelteth · past singular third person pelted · past plural pelted · past subjunctive pelted · participle present pelting · participle past pelted

1. transitiveTo bombard (someone or something) with missiles.

   They pelted the attacking army with bullets.

   5 more examples

   The children are pelting each other with snowballs.

   Pope Lucius [II] being also amongst thē in the fight, well pelted with stones and blowes liued not long after.

   1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, “The Actes of Paschalis II. Bishop of Rome”, in Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC, book I, page [51]

   [T]hey ſtood pelting us from the Shore vvith Darts and Arrovvs; […]

   1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 223

   He pelteth old gentlemen driving four-wheeled chaises with snuff-boxes, and distributeth pincushions to the domestics, breaking windows withal.

   1847, Arthur Smith, “Of the Gent who Goes to the Races”, in The Natural History of the Gent, London: David Bogue, […], →OCLC, page 48

   [C]hildren pelting each other with handfuls of grass,— […]

   1927 May, Virginia Woolf, chapter 4, in To the Lighthouse (Uniform Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf), new edition, London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, […], published 1930, →OCLC, part II (Time Passes), page 207

   Synonyms: bethwack, bang, baste, batter, beat, belabor, blow, clobber

2. transitiveTo force (someone or something) to move using blows or the throwing of missiles.

   So he was pelted out of the coram populo, was he?

   1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC, part I, page 89

   2 more examples

   […] Martin survived […] to receive absolution from the very priest, whom, precisely on that day three years, he had assisted to pelt out of the hamlet of Morgenbrodt.

   1816, [Walter Scott], chapter III, in The Antiquary. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 83

   Presently, sweetened by distance, would be heard the wild weird song of lads and lasses, driving or rather pelting, through the gloaming their sheep and goats; […]

   1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Translator’s Foreword”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume I, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC, page viii

3. transitiveOf a number of small objects (such as raindrops), or the sun's rays: to beat down or fall on (someone or something) in a shower.

   Ile ſtand this ſtorm of hail though the ſtones pelt me.

   1622 (first performance), Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, The Changeling: […], London: […] [Thomas Newcombe] for Humphrey Moseley, […], published 1653, →OCLC, Act II, signature [C4], verso

   4 more examples

   The chiding billovv ſeemes to pelt the cloudes, / The vvinde ſhak'd ſurge, vvith high and monſtrous mayne, / Seemes to caſt vvater, on the burning Beare, […]

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 21

   They had gone but a fevv ſteps, before there came a violent ſhovver of hail; and the vvind, vvhich vvas very high, being immediately in their faces, Cecilia vvas ſo pelted and incommoded, that ſhe vvas frequently obliged to ſtop, in defiance of her utmoſt efforts to force herſelf forvvard.

   1782, [Frances Burney], “A Sketch of High Life”, in Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. […], volume III, London: […] T[homas] Payne and Son […], and T[homas] Cadell […], →OCLC, book VI, pages 269–270

   On sleeping, I continued in dreams the idea of a dark and gusty night. […] [T]otal obscurity environed me; rain pelted me; […]

   1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter X, in Jane Eyre. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 268

   The sun so pelted us that the tears ran down our cheeks once or twice.

   1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter LV, in The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC, page 597

4. transitiveChiefly followed by at: to (continuously) throw (missiles) at.

   The children pelted apples at us.

   2 more examples

   [I]n his Paroxyſms, as he vvalked the Streets, he vvould have his Pockets loaden vvith Stones, to pelt at the Signs.

   1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section XI. A Tale of a Tub.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, pages 203–204

   Will someone hand me anything hard and bruising to pelt at her?

   1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Interlopers”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, pages 327–328

   Synonyms: cockshy

5. dialectaltransitivearchaic except UKTo repeatedly beat or hit (someone or something).
6. figurativelytransitiveTo assail (someone) with harsh words in speech or writing; to abuse, to insult.

   I have […] had the honour to be pelted with several epistles to expostulate with me on that subject.

   1710 July 7 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [pseudonym; Richard Steele et al.], “Monday, June 27, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 190; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume III, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC, page 105

   1 more example

   They don't knovv hovv to go about their abuſe. VVho vvill read a five ſhilling book againſt me? No, Sir, if they had vvit, they ſhould have kept pelting me vvith pamphlets.

   1791, James Boswell, quoting Samuel Johnson, “[1775]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 454

7. intransitivetransitiveEspecially of hailstones, rain, or snow: to beat down or fall forcefully or heavily; to rain down.

   It’s pelting down out there!

   4 more examples

   Accurſt be he that firſt inuented war, / They knew not, ah, they knew not ſimple men, / How thoſe were hit by pelting Cannon ſhot, / Stand ſtaggering like a quiuering Aſpen leafe, / Fearing the force of Boreas boiſtrous blaſts.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iv

   Ever let the Fancy roam, / Pleasure never is at home: / At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth, / Like to bubbles when rain pelteth; […]

   1819 (date written), John Keats, “Fancy”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, page 122

   Thou peltest fast with icy show'r, / Which surely cannot please one; / The wind too has such boist'rous pow'r, / 'Tis quite enough to freeze one.

   1822 May, J. M. Lacey, “Address to the First of April Last—a Very Cold Day”, in The Lady’s Monthly Museum; or, Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction; […], volume XV (Improved Series), London: […] Dean and Munday, […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 299

   On deck, all was dark as a pocket, and either a dead calm, with the rain pouring steadily down, or, more generally, a violent gale dead ahead, with rain pelting horizontally, and occasional variations of hail and sleet;— […]

   1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXXII, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC, page 404

8. figurativelyintransitivetransitiveTo move rapidly, especially in or on a conveyance.

   The bus went pelting down the hill.

   4 more examples

   I pelted across to where my family was sitting.

   The office was closed in a twinkling, and the clerk, with the long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great-coat), went down a slide on Cornhill, at the end of a lane of boys, twenty times, in honour of its being Christmas-eve, and then ran home to Camden Town as hard as he could pelt, to play at blindman's-buff.

   1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 18

   Spring, is ye comen in, / Dappled larke singe, / Snow melteth, / Runnel pelteth, / Smelleth wind of newe buddinge.

   1892 March, “Mother Talks—A Spring Walk”, in Cora L. Stockham, Andrea Hofer, editors, The Kindergarten Magazine […], volume IV, number VII, Chicago, Ill.: Kindergarten Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 471, column 2

   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.

   2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Jul 2022

9. alsoarchaicfigurativelyintransitivetransitiveChiefly followed by at: to bombard someone or something with missiles continuously.

   [T]heſe light armed refuters vvould have don pelting at thir three lines utterd vvith a ſage delivery of no reaſon, but an impotent and vvors then Bonner-like cenſure, […]

   1645 March 14 (Gregorian calendar), J[ohn] M[ilton], Colasterion: A Reply to a Nameles Answer against The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. […], [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 2

   2 more examples

   The Biſhop, and the Duke of Gloſters men, / Forbidden late to carry any VVeapon, / Haue fill'd their Pockets full of peeble ſtones; / And banding themſelues in contrary parts, / Doe pelt ſo faſt at one anothers Pate.

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 106, column 1

   Arch-biſhop [John] VVhitgifts [prelates], much Pen-perſecuted, and pelted at vvith Libellous Pamphlets, but ſupported by Queen Elizabeths Zeal to maintain the Diſcipline etabliſhed, […]

   a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Since the Reformation”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 17

10. intransitiveobsoletetransitiveTo throw out harsh words; to show anger.

    Another ſmotherd, ſeemes to pelt and ſvveare, / And in their rage ſuch ſignes of rage they beare, […]

    1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature K2, verso

    2 more examples

    [S]he [the church] holdeth the veritie of his bodie [i.e., Jesus's body in the Eucharist]: ſhe pelteth not vvith God, denying this to be his body, bicauſe ſhe is cōmaunded to do this in remembrãce of hym: but ſhe doth beſt remembre hym, vvhen ſhe hath the bodie vvhich ſuffered, before her.

    1564 December 1 (Gregorian calendar), Iohn Rastell [i.e., John Rastell], “[Of Corpus Christi Daye and of the Seruice of that Holye Daye]”, in A Confutation of a Sermon, Pronoũced by M. Iuell, at Paules Crosse, the Second Sondaie before Easter (which Catholikes Doe Call Passion Sondaie) Anno Dñi .M.D.LX., Antwerp: […] Ægidius Diest, →OCLC, folio 84, verso

    But if they vvho diſſent in matters not eſſential to Belief, vvhile the common Adverſary is in the Field, ſhall ſtand jarring and pelting at one another, they vvill ſoon be routed and ſubdued.

    1673, John Milton, Of True Religion, Heresie, Schism, Toleration, and What Best Means may be Us’d against the Growth of Popery. […]; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume II, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 811

plural pelts

1. transitiveA beating or falling down of hailstones, rain, or snow in a shower.

   [D]azed and blinded, she bent her head as if to let the pelt of jagged hail, the drench of dirty water, bespatter her unrebuked.

   1927 May, Virginia Woolf, chapter 6, in To the Lighthouse, London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, […], →OCLC, page 54

   1 more example

   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 July 15, Karen-Anne Stewart, chapter 19, in Healing Rain (The Rain Trilogy; 2), Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 134

2. transitivearchaic except IrelandA blow or stroke from something thrown.

   [T]he cripple, in falling, gave him ſuch a good pelt on the head vvith his crutch, that the blood follovved.

   1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Sir Watkin Phillips, Bart. of Jesus College, Oxon.”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume II, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, page 129

3. figurativelytransitivearchaic except IrelandA verbal insult; a jeer, a jibe, a taunt.
4. figurativelytransitivearchaic except Midlands; Southern England (South West); archaic except Midlands; Southern England (South West)A fit of anger; an outburst, a rage.

   The pope [Innocent IV] being in this pelt, Ægidus, a Spanish cardinal, thus interposed his gravity: […]

   1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section V. Thomæ Hanson, Amico Meo.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), subsection 29, 30 (The Pope’s Fume against This Good Bishop Quenched by a Spanish Cardinal.), page 359

5. transitivechiefly Northern England except in at (full) peltAn act of moving quickly; a rush.

   It's a good day off us anyhow, and they're all going south-west by south full pelt as hard as they can go.

   1907, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Battle of the North Atlantic”, in The War in the Air: […], London: George Bell and Sons, published 1908, →OCLC, § 1, page 146

plural pelts

1. ScotlandarchaictransitiveA tattered or worthless piece of clothing; a rag.
2. ScotlandarchaicbroadlytransitiveAnything in a ragged and worthless state; rubbish, trash.

present singular third person pelts · participle present pelting · participle past pelted · past pelted

1. intransitiveobsoletetransitiveTo bargain for a better deal; to haggle.

plural pelts

1. Alternative form of pelta.
   1. historicalobsoleteraretransitiveA small shield, especially one of an approximately elliptical form, or crescent-shaped.
   2. obsoleteraretransitivebiologyA flat apothecium with no rim.

plural Pelts

1. A surname.