Etymology From Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilō, pilāre (“to remove hair from, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pill.
1
To remove the skin or outer covering of.
I sat by my sister's bed, peeling oranges for her.
The skillful shepherd peeled me certain wands.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
2
To remove something from the outer or top layer of.
I peeled (the skin from) a banana and ate it hungrily.
We peeled the old wallpaper off in strips where it was hanging loose.
3
To become detached, come away, especially in flakes or strips; to shed skin in such a way.
I had been out in the sun too long, and my nose was starting to peel.
4
To remove one's clothing.
The children peeled by the side of the lake and jumped in.
5
To move, separate (off or away).
The scrum-half peeled off and made for the touchlines.
Etymology From Middle English pelen, from Old English pilian and Old French peler, pellier; both from Latin pilō, pilāre (“to remove hair from, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pill.
1
Usually The skin or outer layer of a fruit, vegetable, etc.
Etymology From Middle English pele, from Old French pele (modern French pelle), from Latin pāla, from the base of plangō (“fix, plant”). Doublet of pala.
1
A shovel or similar instrument, now especially a pole with a flat disc at the end used for removing pizza or loaves of bread from a baker's oven.
“I will hit you with this pizza peel.” “I'll hit you with this wrench.” “All right, all right, I know we want to hit each other to death, but what if we didn't?” “Not happening, Green. There's enough peel here for you and the captain.”2026 June 5, Justin Michael, “I'm Just Venting” (3:25 from the start), in Among Us, season 1, episode 9, spoken by Purple (Ashley Johnson):
Near-synonym: pizza paddle
2
A T-shaped implement used by printers and bookbinders for hanging wet sheets of paper on lines or poles to dry.
But govern ill the nations under yoke, / Peeling their provinces.1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 4:
O conſider my caſe, moſt blisfull Queen, […] Diſpell thoſe Clouds which hover 'twixt my King and his higheſt Counſell, […] that my great Law-making Court be forced to turn no more to polemicall Committees, […] but that they may come again to the old Parliamentary Rode, To the path of their Predeceſſours, to conſult of means how to ſweep away thoſe Cobwebs that hang in the Courts of Juſtice, and to make the Laws run in their right Channell; to retrench exceſſive fees, and finde remedies for the future, that the poor Client be not ſo peeled by his Lawyer, and made to ſuffer by ſuch monſtrous delays, that one may go from one Tropick to the other, and croſſe the Equinoctiall twenty times, before his ſute be done; […]1645, James Howell, “England’s Tears, for the Present Wars, which for the Nature of the Quarrel, the Quality of the Strength, the Diversity of Battels, Skirmishes, Encounters, and Sieges, (Happened in so Short a Compasse of Time) Cannot be Parallel’d in Any Precedent Age”, in ΔΕΝΔΡΟΛΟΓΊΑ [DENDROLOGIA]: Dodona’s Grove, or The Vocall Forrest. The Third Edition More Exact and Perfect than the Former; with the Addition of Two Other Tracts: viz. Englands Tears for the Present Wars. And The Pre-eminence of Parlements, 3rd edition, Cambridge: Printed by R. D. for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at his shop at the Prince's Arms in S. Pauls Church-yard, →OCLC, page 189: