Metallurgy. the presence of a brittle outer layer on a malleable iron casting.
Verb phrases
10.
peel off,
a.
to remove (the skin, bark, etc.) or be removed: The old skin peeled off.
b.
Aeronautics. to leave a flying formation of aircraft with a banking turn, usually from one end of an echelon.
c.
Informal.to turn off or leave (a road): We peeled off the highway onto a dirt road.
d.
to remove (clothing) in a swift upward or downward motion.
Idioms
11.
keep one's eyes peeled, Informal.to watch closely or carefully; be alert: Keep your eyes peeled for a gas station.
Origin: before 1100;Middle Englishpelen,Old Englishpilian to strip, skin < Latinpilāre to remove hair, derivative of pilus hair. See pill2
Related forms
peel·a·ble, adjective
un·peel·a·ble, adjective
un·peeled, adjective
Synonyms 1. Peel, pare agree in meaning to remove the skin or rind from something. Peel means to pull or strip off the natural external covering or protection of something: to peel an orange, a potato.Pare is used of trimming off chips, flakes, or superficial parts from something, as well as of cutting off the skin or rind: to pare the nails; to pare a potato.
[Old English pilian to strip off the outer layer, from Latin pilāre to make bald, from pilus a hair]
peel2 (piːl)
—n
a long-handled shovel used by bakers for moving bread, in an oven
[C14 pele, from Old French, from Latin pāla spade, from pangere to drive in; see palette]
peel3 (piːl)
—n
(in Britain) a fortified tower of the 16th century on the borders between England and Scotland, built to withstand raids
[C14 (fence made of stakes): from Old French piel stake, from Latin pālus; see pale², paling]
Peel (piːl)
—n
1.
John, real name John Robert Parker Ravenscroft. 1939--2004, British broadcaster; presented his influential Radio 1 music programme (1967--2004) and Radio 4's Home Truths (1998--2004)
2.
Sir Robert. 1788--1850, British statesman; Conservative prime minister (1834--35; 1841--46). As Home Secretary (1828--30) he founded the Metropolitan Police and in his second ministry carried through a series of free-trade budgets culminating in the repeal of the Corn Laws (1846), which split the Tory party
"to strip off," developed from O.E. pilian "to peel," and O.Fr. pillier, both from L. pilare "to strip of hair," from pilus "hair." Probably also infl. by L. pellis "skin, hide." The noun is 1583, from earlier pill, pile (1388), from the verb.
in. to strip off one's clothing. : I had to peel for my physical examination.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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