pelt
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
pelts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pelted,
past participle, past
-
pelting
present participle
-
to attack or assail with repeated blows or with missiles.
-
to throw (missiles).
-
to drive by blows or missiles.
The child pelted the cows home from the fields.
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to assail vigorously with words, questions, etc.
-
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)
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pelts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pelted,
past participle, past
-
pelting
present participle
-
to strike blows; beat with force or violence.
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to throw missiles.
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to hurry.
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to beat or pound unrelentingly.
The wind, rain, and snow pelted against the castle walls.
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to cast abuse.
noun
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the untanned hide or skin of an animal.
-
Facetious. the human skin.
idioms
verb
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(tr) to throw (missiles) at (a person)
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(tr) to hurl (insults) at (a person)
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(intr; foll by along, over, etc) to move rapidly; hurry
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to rain heavily
noun
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a blow
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speed (esp in the phrase at full pelt )
noun
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the skin of a fur-bearing animal, such as a mink, esp when it has been removed from the carcass
-
the hide of an animal, stripped of hair and ready for tanning
Synonym Usage
See skin.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
peltsimple
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peltssimple
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have peltedperfect
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has peltedperfect
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am peltingprogressive
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are peltingprogressive
-
is peltingprogressive
-
have been peltingperfect progressive
-
has been peltingperfect progressive
Past
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peltedsimple
-
had peltedperfect
-
was peltingprogressive
-
were peltingprogressive
-
had been peltingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pelt1
First recorded in 1490–1500; Middle English pilten, pelten; further origin uncertain
Origin of pelt2
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English; perhaps back formation from peltry; compare Old French pelete, derivative of Latin pellis “skin”
Explanation
A pelt is an animal's skin, fur and all. If you are wearing a fur coat, you are really wearing a pelt (hate to break it to you). Another meaning of pelt is to throw something at someone — over and over again. Attacking armies might pelt the enemy with bombs, and there's always some kid in the back of an elementary school classroom who tries to pelt his classmates with spitballs. Either way, there is an attack or bombardment involved. If you dare to wear an animal pelt in front of an animal rights activist, you might just get pelted with a tomato.
Vocabulary lists containing pelt
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Touching Spirit Bear
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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.
See Examples For:
Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun will pelt the audience with references to other touchstones as the movie proceeds, including the slasher “Sleepaway Camp” and the David Lynch masterpiece “Mulholland Drive.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Japan's yukigassen federation emphasises the "mental challenge" posed by the game, in which players on both teams pelt their opponents while taking cover behind shelters.
From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026
She said, “You were able to put your pelt back on. You’re spending more time in your seal suit.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
By aiming above a wall, they could pelt the town behind it with beehives, scorpions, snakes, flaming pitch, rotten vermin, or excrement.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
The lion pelt slid off one shoulder and she tugged it back into place.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
River otters were hunted by the thousands for their pelts in the 17th and 18th centuries, according to the Sacramento Zoo’s page about the animal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
Beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain 400 years ago for their meat, furry water-resistant pelts and a substance they secrete called castoreum - used in food, medicine and perfume.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2025
The costumes of the cachaceros, representing Africans, are phantasmagoric confections of old jaguar pelts, caiman skulls and peccary teeth.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2024
Human hunting of wildcats—for pelts and because they were seen as vermin—in Great Britain in medieval times eventually drove the animals up into the remote highlands of Scotland.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 6, 2023
Now the leather traders, who came from as far as Spain, and the fur merchants, whose goods might come from Russia, filled the tables with piles of hides and pelts.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
Alas, Mr. Powell and his colleagues overcame their hesitation this time and we all got pelted with dots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
But his small group was quickly overwhelmed—and pelted with water balloons.
From Slate ● Jan. 20, 2026
The most viral moment came when Joe Wilkinson was giving a mock-serious speech about the RNLI, only to be pelted with a giant ball of pink paint, for no apparent reason.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025
But, overall, some travelers dodged shutdown bullets, others were pelted as airlines canceled more than 10,000 flights in the last week alone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025
The other torchbearers gathered around Noa and Shae, their voices rising as they pelted Shae with questions about why she was back.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
A man’s voice cut through the rain pelting the pitch-black Caribbean Sea, just audible between two boats tossed around by 10-foot waves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Walker Buehler pelting the pinstripes with precision pitches in the ninth inning of Game 5 to secure the championship for the Dodgers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2024
The weather had improved in the hour or so before kick-off but it's pelting down again now.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2024
Two years later, a shop selling musical instruments opened in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, her hometown, and An became a fixture there, pelting the owner with questions.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
A bunch of young men in tattered coats and hats were pelting each other with balls of ice, roaring with laughter like kids having a snowball fight.
From "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912" by Lauren Tarshis
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.
