PELT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pelt mean? 

• PELT (noun)
  The noun PELT has 2 senses:

1. the dressed hairy coat of a mammal

2. body covering of a living animal

  Familiarity information: PELT used as a noun is rare.

• PELT (verb)
  The verb PELT has 3 senses:

1. cast, hurl, or throw repeatedly with some missile

2. attack and bombard with or as if with missiles

3. rain heavily

  Familiarity information: PELT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PELT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The dressed hairy coat of a mammal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

fur; pelt

Hypernyms ("pelt" is a kind of...):

animal skin (the outer covering of an animal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pelt"):

bearskin (the pelt of a bear (sometimes used as a rug))

squirrel (the fur of a squirrel)

seal; sealskin (the pelt or fur (especially the underfur) of a seal)

sable (the expensive dark brown fur of the marten)

raccoon (the fur of the North American racoon)

otter (the fur of an otter)

muskrat; muskrat fur (the brown fur of a muskrat)

mink (the expensive fur of a mink)

leopard (the pelt of a leopard)

lapin; rabbit (the fur of a rabbit)

lambskin (the skin of a lamb with the wool still on)

fox (the grey or reddish-brown fur of a fox)

ermine (the expensive white fur of the ermine)

chinchilla (the expensive silvery grey fur of the chinchilla)

beaver; beaver fur (the soft brown fur of the beaver)

astrakhan (the fur of young lambs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Body covering of a living animal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

hide; pelt; skin

Hypernyms ("pelt" is a kind of...):

body covering (any covering for the body or a body part)

• PELT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pelt    ... he / she / it pelts   
Past simple: pelted   
Past participle: pelted   
-ing form: pelting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cast, hurl, or throw repeatedly with some missile

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

bombard; pelt

Context example:

They pelted each other with snowballs

Hypernyms (to "pelt" is one way to...):

throw (propel through the air)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pelt"):

lapidate (throw stones at)

snowball (throw snowballs at)

egg (throw eggs at)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody with something

Derivation:

pelter (a thrower of missiles)

pelting (anything happening rapidly or in quick successive)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Attack and bombard with or as if with missiles

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

pelt; pepper

Context example:

pelt the speaker with questions

Hypernyms (to "pelt" is one way to...):

assail; attack (launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with)

"Pelt" entails doing...:

throw (propel through the air)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody with something

Derivation:

pelter (a thrower of missiles)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Rain heavily

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

pelt; pour; rain buckets; rain cats and dogs; stream

Context example:

Put on your rain coat-- it's pouring outside!

Hypernyms (to "pelt" is one way to...):

rain; rain down (precipitate as rain)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pelt"):

sheet (come down as if in sheets)

sluice; sluice down (pour as if from a sluice)

Sentence frame:

It is ----ing

Sentence example:

It was pelting all day long

Derivation:

pelter (a heavy rain)

 Context examples 

Thirty rounds had been fought in an hour and twenty-five minutes, and the rain was pelting down harder than ever.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Such elements are normally captured in the metallic cores of rocky worlds, and their existence hinted that Mars had been pelted by asteroids throughout its early history.

(Ancient Asteroid Impact Explains Martian Geological Mysteries, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Could I but have stiffened to the still frost—the friendly numbness of death—it might have pelted on; I should not have felt it; but my yet living flesh shuddered at its chilling influence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“What is the meaning of this?” cried the other “Why are you pelting me?” “I am not pelting you,” answered the first, growling.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It was my task to tally the pelts as they came aboard from the boats, to oversee the skinning and afterward the cleansing of the decks and bringing things ship-shape again.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Once I was strongly bent upon resistance, for, while I had liberty the whole strength of that empire could hardly subdue me, and I might easily with stones pelt the metropolis to pieces; but I soon rejected that project with horror, by remembering the oath I had made to the emperor, the favours I received from him, and the high title of nardac he conferred upon me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

At the range of a couple of hundred yards we emptied our magazines, firing bullet after bullet into the beasts, but with no more effect than if we were pelting them with pellets of paper.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As if this were not bad enough for me, the boys, connecting me with the establishment, on account of the patience and perseverance with which I sat outside, half-dressed, pelted me, and used me very ill all day.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So I got grandpa to say it was high time we did something, and off I pelted to the office yesterday, for the doctor looked sober, and Hannah most took my head off when I proposed a telegram.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Follow it up! cried Belcher, and in rushed the smith, pelting in his half-arm blows, and taking the returns without a wince, until Crab Wilson went down exhausted in the corner.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)