pelt /pɛlt/verb 14noun 16forms 5phrases 2 verb14 •To bombard (someone or something) with missiles.The children are pelting each other with snowballs.They pelted the attacking army with bullets. •Chiefly followed by at: to (continuously) throw (missiles) at.The children pelted apples at us. •Chiefly 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 •(figurative) To 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 •Of 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.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, […] — 1603 •Especially of hailstones, rain, or snow: to beat down or fall forcefully or heavily; to rain down.It’s pelting down out there! •To move rapidly, especially in or on a conveyance.I pelted across to where my family was sitting.The bus went pelting down the hill. •To remove the skin from (an animal); to skin. •Chiefly followed by from: to remove (the skin) from an animal. •(dialect) To repeatedly beat or hit (someone or something). •To force (someone or something) to move using blows or the throwing of missiles.[…] 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 •(no longer used, rare) To 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 •(no longer used) To 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 •(no longer used) To bargain for a better deal; to haggle. noun16 •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 •The skin of an animal (especially a goat or sheep) with the hair or wool removed, often in preparation for tanning. •The fur or hair of a living animal.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 •(Ireland, informal) Human skin, especially when bare; also, a person's hair. •An 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 •A 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 •A 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 •(figurative) A verbal insult; a jeer, a jibe, a taunt. •(figurative) A fit of anger; an outburst, a rage.The pope [Innocent IV] being in this pelt, Aegidus, a Spanish cardinal, thus interposed his gravity: […] — 1655 •(no longer used) A garment made from animal skins. •(Scotland, no longer used) A tattered or worthless piece of clothing; a rag. •(Scotland, no longer used) Anything in a ragged and worthless state; rubbish, trash. •(no longer used) The 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 •(no longer used, rare) Alternative form of pelta. •(no longer used, rare) A small shield, especially one of an approximately elliptical form, or crescent-shaped. •(no longer used, rare) A flat apothecium with no rim. formspelted · pelting · pelteth · pelts · peltest Phrases with pelt pelt downTo rain heavily; to sleet, snow or hail heavily. pelt of the dogAn immoderate, excessive quantity of alcohol drunk the morning after whilst suffering withdrawal symptoms or a hangover, which goes beyond alleviating the complaint to causing drunkenness; compare hair of the dog.
