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pelt

 - 6 dictionary results

pelt

1  [pelt]
Use pelt in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to attack or assail with repeated blows or with missiles.
2. to throw (missiles).
3. to drive by blows or missiles: The child pelted the cows home from the fields.
4. to assail vigorously with words, questions, etc.
5. to beat or rush against with repeated forceful blows: The wind and rain pelted the roofs and walls of the houses for four days.
–verb (used without object)
6. to strike blows; beat with force or violence.
7. to throw missiles.
8. to hurry.
9. to beat or pound unrelentingly: The wind, rain, and snow pelted against the castle walls.
10. to cast abuse.
–noun
11. the act of pelting.
12. a vigorous stroke; whack.
13. a blow with something thrown.
14. speed.
15. an unrelenting or repeated beating, as of rain or wind.
Origin:
1490–1500; orig. uncert.

pelt

2  [pelt]
–noun
1. the untanned hide or skin of an animal.
2. Facetious. the human skin.
—Idiom
3. in one's pelt, Facetious. naked.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME; perh. back formation from peltry; cf. OF pelete, deriv. of L pellis skin

Related forms:
peltish, adjective
peltless, adjective

Synonyms:
1. See skin.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To pelt
pelt 1   (pělt)   
n.  

  1. The skin of an animal with the fur or hair still on it.

  2. A stripped animal skin ready for tanning.


[Middle English, probably from Old French pelete, diminutive of pel, skin, from Latin pellis; see pel-3 in Indo-European roots.]
pelt 2   (pělt)   
v.   pelt·ed, pelt·ing, pelts

v.   tr.

  1. To strike or assail repeatedly with or as if with blows or missiles; bombard: pelted each other with snowballs.

  2. To cast, hurl, or throw (missiles): children who pelted stones at the neighbors' windows.

  3. To strike repeatedly: Hailstones pelted the tent.

v.   intr.

  1. To beat or strike heavily and repeatedly.

  2. To move at a vigorous gait.

n.  

  1. A sharp blow; a whack.

  2. A rapid pace: galloped away at a pelt.


[Middle English pelten, variant of pilten, perhaps ultimately from Latin pultāre, to beat, variant of pulsāre, frequentative of pellere, to strike; see pel-5 in Indo-European roots.]
pelt'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

pelt  (v.)
"to strike" (with something), c.1500, perhaps from an unrecorded O.E. *pyltan, from M.L. *pultiare, from L. pultare "to beat." Or from O.Fr. peloter "to strike with a ball," from pelote "ball" (see pellet).

pelt  (n.)
"skin of a fur-bearing animal," 1425, related to earlier pel (c.1300), contraction of pelet, from O.Fr. pelete "fine skin, membrane," dim. of pel "skin," from L. pellis "skin, hide."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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