rind
1 Americannoun
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a thick and firm outer coat or covering, as of certain fruits, cheeses, and meats.
watermelon rind; orange rind; bacon rind.
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the bark of a tree.
noun
noun
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a hard outer layer or skin on bacon, cheese, etc
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the outer layer of a fruit or of the spore-producing body of certain fungi
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the outer layer of the bark of a tree
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rind1
before 900; Middle English, Old English rind ( e ) tree bark, crust; cognate with German Rinde
Origin of rind2
1300–50; Middle English rynd; cognate with Middle Dutch rijn, Middle Low German rīn
Explanation
A rind is a thick, inedible peel. You'll have to remove the rind of your orange before you eat it. Most rinds occur naturally, growing to cover and protect a fruit or a plant. You can also call the thick, waxy covering on a wheel of cheese a rind, or the inedible skin on a sausage or another food. The Old English root rinde originally meant "bark or crust," and later also "peel of a fruit or vegetable."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a surreal perspective shift, the fruit that once loomed so large is now small enough to rest on a table, with nothing left except the rind and a few silver spoons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
In 2022, the consortium began introducing tracking chips, no larger than a grain of rice, as part of the label embedded in the hard rind of the cheese.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2024
Is there a rind on your cheese, and if so, is it edible?
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2024
All meteorites are coated in what’s known as “fusion crust,” a hard rind of glassy material left behind when the exterior melted upon entry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2023
When the pieces were baked in the oven, Laura loved to spread the soft insides with butter and then scoop the yellow flesh from the rind and eat it.
From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
