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• peel
  peel

  verb (used with object)

  to strip (something) of its skin, rind, bark, etc..
• Peel
  Peel

  noun

  Sir Robert, 1788–1850, British political leader: founder of the London constabulary; prime minister 1834–35; 1841–46.

peel

¹ American  

[peel] / pil /

verb (used with object)

• peels,
  present (3rd person singular)
• peeled,
  past participle,  past
• peeling
  present participle

1. to strip (something) of its skin, rind, bark, etc..

   to peel an orange.

2. to strip (the skin, rind, bark, paint, etc.) from something.

   to peel paint from a car.

3. Croquet. to cause (another player's ball) to go through a wicket.

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verb (used without object)

• peels,
  present (3rd person singular)
• peeled,
  past participle,  past
• peeling
  present participle

1. (of skin, bark, paint, etc.) to come off; become separated.

2. to lose the skin, rind, bark, paint, etc.

3. Informal. to undress.

4. Metallurgy. (of a malleable iron casting) to lose, or tend to lose, the outer layer.

noun

1. the skin or rind of a fruit, vegetable, etc.

2. Metallurgy. the presence of a brittle outer layer on a malleable iron casting.

verb phrase

1. peel off

   1. to remove (the skin, bark, etc.) or be removed.

      The old skin peeled off.

   2. Aeronautics. to leave a flying formation of aircraft with a banking turn, usually from one end of an echelon.

   3. Informal. to turn off or leave (a road).

      We peeled off the highway onto a dirt road.

   4. to remove (clothing) in a swift upward or downward motion.

idioms

1. keep one's eyes peeled, to watch closely or carefully; be alert.

   Keep your eyes peeled for a gas station.

peel ² American  

[peel] / pil /

noun

1. a shovellike implement for putting bread, pies, etc., into the oven or taking them out.

2. Metallurgy. a long, shovellike iron tool for charging an open-hearth furnace.

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peel ³ American  

[peel] / pil /

Or pele

noun

1. a small fortified tower for residence or for use during an attack, common in the border counties of England and Scotland in the 16th century.

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Peel ⁴ American  

[peel] / pil /

noun

1. Sir Robert, 1788–1850, British political leader: founder of the London constabulary; prime minister 1834–35; 1841–46.

2. a seaport on W Isle of Man: castle; resort.

3. a river in N Yukon Territory and NW Northwest Territories, Canada, flowing E and N to the Mackenzie River. 425 miles (684 km) long.

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peel ¹ British  

/ piːl /

verb

1. (tr) to remove (the skin, rind, outer covering, etc) of (a fruit, egg, etc)

2. (intr) (of paint, etc) to be removed from a surface, esp through weathering

3. (intr) (of a surface) to lose its outer covering of paint, etc esp through weathering

4. (intr) (of a person or part of the body) to shed skin in flakes or (of skin) to be shed in flakes, esp as a result of sunburn

5. croquet to put (another player's ball) through a hoop or hoops

6. to watch vigilantly

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noun

1. the skin or rind of a fruit, etc

Peel ² British  

/ piːl /

noun

1. John, real name John Robert Parker Ravenscroft . 1939–2004, British broadcaster; presented his influential Radio 1 music programme (1967–2004) and Radio 4's Home Truths (1998–2004)

2. Sir Robert. 1788–1850, British statesman; Conservative prime minister (1834–35; 1841–46). As Home Secretary (1828–30) he founded the Metropolitan Police and in his second ministry carried through a series of free-trade budgets culminating in the repeal of the Corn Laws (1846), which split the Tory party

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peel ³ British  

/ piːl /

noun

1. a long-handled shovel used by bakers for moving bread, in an oven

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peel ⁴ British  

/ piːl /

noun

1. (in Britain) a fortified tower of the 16th century on the borders between England and Scotland, built to withstand raids

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peel More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing peel

• keep one's eyes open (peeled)

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Synonym Usage

Peel, pare agree in meaning to remove the skin or rind from something. Peel means to pull or strip off the natural external covering or protection of something: to peel an orange, a potato. Pare is used of trimming off chips, flakes, or superficial parts from something, as well as of cutting off the skin or rind: to pare the nails; to pare a potato.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Peelite
  noun
• peelable
  adjective
• unpeelable
  adjective
• unpeeled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• peeling
  present
• peeled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• peel
  simple
• peels
  simple
• have peeled
  perfect
• has peeled
  perfect
• am peeling
  progressive
• are peeling
  progressive
• is peeling
  progressive
• have been peeling
  perfect progressive
• has been peeling
  perfect progressive

Past

• peeled
  simple
• had peeled
  perfect
• was peeling
  progressive
• were peeling
  progressive
• had been peeling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will peel
  simple
• will have peeled
  perfect
• will be peeling
  progressive
• will have been peeling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of peel¹

First recorded before 1100; Middle English pilen, pillen, pilien “to strip off, remove,” Old English pilian “to strip, skin” (unrecorded), or Old French pillier, peler, from Latin pilāre “to remove hair, pluck, scalp,” derivative of pilus “hair”; see pill ²

Origin of peel²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English pele, pale, pile “baker's shovel,” from Old French pele, pale, from Latin pāla “long-handled spade, shoulder blade”; see palette

Origin of peel³

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English pel, pele, peil “defensive palisade, fortress,” from Anglo-French pel, pele “stockade” and Middle French pel “stake,” from Latin pālus “stake, post”; see pale ², pole ¹

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Explanation

A peel is the covering of a fruit or vegetable. Some peels are thick and easy to remove, like an orange peel, while others might be more stubborn, like the thin peel on a potato. When you remove an apple peel or the peel of an eggplant, you peel it. You can peel anything with a rind or skin, especially things you can eat, like shrimp and onions. There are non-edible things to peel, like stickers and old wallpaper too. You can also figuratively peel something: "I had to peel off my wet clothes and put dry ones on before I stopped shivering." The Latin root, pilare, means "to strip of hair."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

peel Peel peels peeled peeling

The bulk of its workforce was made up of indigenous Wayuu, thousands of whom were hired to peel and package shrimp in processing plants around Maracaibo.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

An ode to imperfect fruit: Tangerines that are a breeze to peel.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

Anima Mundi’s “main cool down blend,” as she described it, contains lemongrass, hibiscus, peppermint and orange peel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

"The only difficulty is peeling them, but just cut the knobbly bit off and peel it separately."

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

As I lay them out on the racks, I peel the top one off each stack.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

A giant scale model of Mars on display at Peel Cathedral for a Mars Society event.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Prepare the peaches: Peel the peaches, if desired, then remove the pits and roughly chop the fruit.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Disraeli rose to prominence in 1846 when his party split over the decision of Robert Peel, the Conservative prime minister, to end duties on imported grain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Jointly owned by Inverclyde Council and Peel Ports, it recently secured £20m of UK government funding to repair the flooded pump room and ageing dock gates.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Peel and cut up three carrots and wash the lettuce.

From "Doing Time Online" by Jan Siebold

Eating fruit and vegetable scraps such as peels and stalks could provide a health boost that most of us are missing, say UK researchers, external.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

This category includes Botox, fillers, chemical peels, dermabrasion, laser hair removal, nonsurgical fat reduction and skin tightening, and weight-loss medication such as GLP-1s.

From Slate ● Sep. 2, 2026

Male jewel beetles, having evolved to respond to the exciting sight, are known to mistake orange peels for potential mates and die in a fruitless attempt to impregnate them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026

Caporale also suggests swapping the traditional maraschino cherry garnish for something more elevated, like a braided twist of citrus peels.

From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2026

Everyone knows the peels are the best part.

From "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate

As I peeled the tape off my picture frames and glanced around the cleaned apartment, I wondered if I had been unnecessarily paranoid.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Indonesian villager Octavius wades through the forest in rubber boots and tattered joggers, ears pricked, eyes peeled, a telephoto lens on his phone primed to capture orangutans, monkeys or birds.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

Minutes after taking his seat, Garcia reached into a bag, pulled out the egg, calmly peeled it and ate it whole.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Today’s self-adhesive stamps offer scallop-cut edges in lame imitation but must be peeled rather than pulled.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

And he picked up one of the sheets of stickers I hadn’t gotten to yet and peeled one off and said, “Where does this one go, do you think?”

From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

Videos show people, mostly teens, euphorically peeling off the outer layer to reveal a tender, ultra-juicy gummy core.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The peeling facades, faded signs and cavernous auditoriums of such cinemas are remnants of a time when going to the movies was itself the main event.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

Residents have long complained about a proliferation of high-powered cars racing down the city’s major thoroughfares, peeling out and doing doughnuts, and drivers revving their engines into the early-morning hours.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

The result was bubbling, blistering and peeling that appeared just weeks after the renovation was completed.

From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026

His face felt like it was peeling off.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

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