pellet

American  

[pel-it] / ˈpɛl ɪt /

noun

1. a small, rounded or spherical body, as of food or medicine.

2. a small wad or ball of wax, paper, etc., for throwing, shooting, or the like.

3. one of a charge of small shot, as for a shotgun.

4. a bullet.

5. a ball, usually of stone, formerly used as a missile.

6. Also called cast.  Ornithology. a small, roundish mass of matter regurgitated by certain predatory birds, consisting of the indigestible remains, as the fur, feathers, and bones, of the prey.

7. (in Romanesque architecture) a hemispherical or disklike carved ornament.

8. Heraldry. ogress.

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verb (used with object)

1. to form into pellets; pelletize.

2. to hit with pellets.

pellet British  

/ ˈpɛlɪt /

noun

1. a small round ball, esp of compressed matter

   a wax pellet

2. 1. an imitation bullet used in toy guns

   2. a piece of small shot

3. a stone ball formerly used as a catapult or cannon missile

4. Also called: cast.   casting.  ornithol a mass of undigested food, including bones, fur, feathers, etc, that is regurgitated by certain birds, esp birds of prey

5. a small pill

6. a raised area on coins and carved or moulded ornaments

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verb

1. to strike with pellets

2. to make or form into pellets

Other Word Forms

• pelletlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of pellet

1325–75; Middle English pelet < Middle French pelote < Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila ball. See pill ¹, -et

Example Sentences

One woman was detained after she was shot with a pellet gun and went to a hospital in Tehran for treatment, a close friend said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Once she had taken a BB pellet out of the wing of a hawk.

From Literature

"I . . . uh . . . I'm doing an experiment. You know—how feeding meat to an animal compares with just giving it pellets and stuff."

From Literature

“The ground rumbled and shook—as when you felled a big tree. But there wasn’t much noise … Ash fell damp and cool like mud. Coarse pellets seemed to come straight down,” Buzz remembered.

From Literature

Patrick Wilson plays one of the nervous teachers who have been issued pellet guns in anticipation of another attack.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bullet
• pill