pelt
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The skin of an animal with the hair or wool removed, often in preparation for tanning.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pehltIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɛlt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
also figuratively
The skin of an animal (especially a goat or sheep) with the hair or wool removed, often in preparation for tanning.
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).
The fur or hair of a living animal.
Body covering of a living animal
A beating or falling down of hailstones, rain, or snow in a shower.
A tattered or worthless piece of clothing; a rag.
verb
To remove the skin from (an animal); to skin.
transitive
Chiefly followed by at: to (continuously) throw (missiles) at.
Attack and bombard with or as if with missiles
transitive
To force (someone or something) to move using blows or the throwing of missiles.
transitive
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.
intransitive
Especially of hailstones, rain, or snow: to beat down or fall forcefully or heavily; to rain down.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The skin of an animal (especially a goat or sheep) with the hair or wool removed, often in preparation for tanning.
Used this way, pelt is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use pelt
- “They pelted each other with snowballs.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.