to remove the outer skin or covering from a fruit, vegetable, or similar object
She used a small knife to peel the oranges for the salad.
“Can you peel the potatoes while I boil the water?”
✦ From Middle English pelen, from Old French peler “to strip off skin,” from Latin pellis “skin, hide.”
the skin or outer covering removed from fruit or vegetables
Orange peel can add a lovely aroma to cakes.
Please throw the potato peel in the compost bin.
✦ Same root as the verb, referring to what is removed when you peel.
to come off or be removed in thin layers or strips, especially through age, heat, or damage
The old paint on the fence began to peel after the harsh winter.
If you stay in the sun too long, your skin might peel later.
✦ Extension of earlier meaning “remove the skin,” now describing the process happening by itself.
a long-handled flat tool used to slide bread or pizza in and out of a hot oven
The baker slid the loaf into the oven with a wooden peel.
Use the pizza peel so you don’t burn your hands.
✦ Specialized sense developed from the idea of a thin flat blade, dating to medieval bread-making tools.
