peel English · revision 39588

+ English has three main words spelled ''peel'': the verb "to strip off the skin" with its noun "rind", a baker's shovel, and a small fortified tower on the Scottish Border.^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) All three come from Latin, but through different words.^(AHD 2024)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /piːl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|strip; rind}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=a1250, Ancrene Riwle|origins=la pilus}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is [[inh|enm|pilen]] (later [[m|enm|pelen]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024) [[inh|ang|pilian|t=to peel, strip]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Collins 2023) which Hoad notes is recorded only late;^(Hoad 1986) the Old English verb is [[bor|la|pilō|t=to strip of hair, make bald]], which is formed on [[m|la|pilus|t=hair]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023) It was reinforced by [[fro|pillier|t=to tug, pull, plunder]] and [[m|fro|peler|t=to peel]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024)^(Klein 1966) The OED treats ''peel'' as a variant of the English verb [[pill]] "to plunder; to strip", and the Shorter Oxford suggests that the differentiation of the pair was helped by the two French verbs for peeling and pillaging.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010) Etymonline thinks it was probably also influenced by [[la|pellis|t=skin, hide]], and Weekley associated it in sense with the Old French word for skin that comes from it.^(Etymonline)^(Weekley 1921) The noun "rind" continues the earlier English noun ''pill'' (also [[m|enm|pile]], late 14th century), altered after the verb, and partly comes from the verb itself.^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To rob or strip a person of possessions, to plunder a place, or to oppress with taxes: a1250, in the ''Ancrene Riwle'', a sense now obsolete.^(OED 2026) Barnhart dates the forms ''pilien'' and ''pilewin'' probably before 1200, already meaning both to oppress or extort and to remove a rind or shell.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The plundering senses faded slowly: to take goods by violence is recorded until 1586, and to rob or oppress until 1891.^(OED 2026) The sense of stripping off a skin, rind or bark is found from 1424 in the Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, and stripping a thing of its outer layer from a1450.^(OED 2026) The intransitive senses followed: to lose an outer layer from 1592 (the 1630s according to Etymonline), and of the layer itself, to come away in strips, from 1640.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) In 1785 Grose recorded the colloquial sense "to undress", originally before a fight.^(OED 2026) American English added ''keep one's eyes peeled'', "stay alert", by 1852, perhaps a play on the eyes of a potato; the slang ''peel it'', "run off at full speed", by 1860; pilots' ''peel off'', "veer away from a formation", in the Second World War; and hot-rodders' ''peel out'', "speed away", by 1952.^(Etymonline) Green's Dictionary of Slang records ''peel'' "to extract money from a wallet" in 1836.^(GDoS) The noun "rind" is dated ?a1450 by the OED and to the 1580s by Etymonline;^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) it was shortened from ''candied peel'' by 1869, and since 1960 also names a cosmetic treatment that removes the outer layers of the skin.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1200 – the forms ''pilien'', ''pilewin'', probably.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a1250 – to rob, plunder (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1424 – to pare off a skin or bark.^(OED 2026)

+ * ?a1450 – the noun, the rind or skin of a fruit;^(OED 2026) the 1580s in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+ * a1450 – to strip a thing of its skin or rind.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1592 – to lose an outer layer;^(OED 2026) the 1630s in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1640 – of an outer layer, to come off.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1785 – to undress (colloquial).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1836 – (slang) to take money from a wallet.^(GDoS)

+ * 1852 – ''keep one's eyes peeled'' (American).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1869 – ''peel'' for candied peel.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1952 – ''peel out''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1960 – a cosmetic skin treatment.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To remove the [[skin]], [[rind]] or outer covering from: ''Peel the carrots before you grate them.''^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # To strip or pull off (an outer layer): ''He peeled the old poster off the wall.''^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # (intransitive) Of paint, skin, bark and the like: to come off in thin strips or flakes.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # (intransitive) Of a surface or a person: to lose its outer layer or shed skin, as after [[sunburn]].^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)

+ # ''keep one's eyes peeled'': to watch carefully, stay alert.^(Collins 2023)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The skin or rind of a fruit or vegetable, especially of a [[citrus]] fruit.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A cosmetic treatment that removes the outer layers of the skin; a chemical peel.^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[peeler]]

+ * [[peeling]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|baker's shovel}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1396|origins=la pāla}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The baker's shovel is [[inh|enm|pele]], [[bor|xno|pele]] and [[m|frm|pelle|t=shovel]],^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(AHD 2024) and partly directly from [[la|pāla|t=spade, shovel, baker's peel, shoulder blade]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) In Anglo-Norman the noun is recorded from 1235–55, both for a long-handled spade and for a baker's shovel;^(AND) modern French has [[m|fr|pelle]].^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford relate the Latin noun to [[m|la|pangō|t=to fix, fasten, plant]], and Etymonline reconstructs [[ine-pro|*pag-slo-]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*pag-|t=to fasten]];^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(AHD 2024) Klein calls it of uncertain origin, perhaps related to [[m|la|pālus|t=stake]].^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A pole with a broad flat end, used to put loaves into an oven and take them out: 1396, in an inquisition.^(OED 2026) Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century and Merriam-Webster to the 14th century.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By ?a1500 it could name any shovel, especially a fire shovel, a use now historical.^(OED 2026) Printers used it from 1683 for a pole with a T-shaped crosspiece on which damp printed sheets were hung to dry.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) described it as a broad thin board with a long handle used by bakers.^(Johnson 1755) In Wright's dialect dictionary it is in general use in Scotland and England for the flat wooden shovel used to put bread and pies in and out of a brick oven.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1396 – a baker's shovel.^(OED 2026)

+ * ?a1500 – a shovel, especially a fire shovel.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1683 – (printing) a pole for hanging up printed sheets.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1875 – the blade of an oar (rare, obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A long-handled [[shovel]] with a broad flat blade, used to slide bread, pizzas and the like into and out of an [[oven]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (printing, now rare) A pole with a crosspiece for hanging up freshly printed sheets.^(OED 2026)

+

+ {{homograph|3|tower}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=a1400 (c1303), Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne|origins=la pālus}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The tower is [[inh|enm|pel]] (also [[m|enm|pele]]), [[bor|xno|pel|t=stake, palisade]] and [[m|frm|pel|t=stake, fence]] (modern [[m|fr|pieu]]),^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la|pālus|t=stake]],^(OED 2026)^(Klein 1966)^(Hoad 1986) the source of [[pale]] "a stake".^(Klein 1966)^(Hoad 1986) In Anglo-Norman the word meant a stake by the late 12th century, a palisade by the early 14th and a peel tower by the late 14th.^(OED 2026) Hoad thinks the tower sense is probably short for peel house (16th century).^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A stake: a1400, in a copy of Robert Mannyng's ''Handlyng Synne'' (c. 1303), a rare sense found only in Middle English.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From ?a1400 it meant a fence of stakes or a stockaded enclosure, chiefly in Scotland.^(OED 2026) About 1450, in Chaucer's ''House of Fame'', it also meant a castle, especially a small one.^(OED 2026)^(Weekley 1921) The sense that survives, a small fortified tower or house of the kind built in the 16th century in the border counties of England and Scotland, is recorded from 1726.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) Hoad dates the small fortified dwelling on the Scottish Border to the 18th century.^(Hoad 1986) Wright's dialect dictionary records it as a Border stronghold in Scotland, Northumberland and Cumberland, also in ''peel-castle'', ''peel-house'' and ''peel-tower''.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a1400 – a stake.^(OED 2026)

+ * ?a1400 – a palisade, a stockaded enclosure.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1450 – a castle, especially a small one (obsolete by 1765).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1726 – a small fortified tower on the English–Scottish border.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small fortified [[tower]] or house of a kind built in the 16th century near the border between England and Scotland; also called a ''peel tower''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (historical) A [[palisade]] or stockaded enclosure.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pill]]

+ * [[pillage]]

+ * [[depilatory]]

+ * [[pale]]

+ * [[palette]]

+ * [[pallet]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The croquet verb ''peel'', to send another player's ball through a hoop, has a separate source: it is named after Walter H. Peel, a croquet player of the 1860s.^(SOED 2002)^(OED 2026) A Scots ''peel'' "an equal, a match" is of unknown origin,^(SOED 2002)^(OED 2026) and Weekley also found the ''peel'' of ''salmon peel'', a grilse, of unknown origin.^(Weekley 1921) In the dialects of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall a ''peel'' was a pillow, especially a lace-maker's;^(Wright 1898) Merriam-Webster traces that word to [[ang|pyle]], the source of [[pillow]].^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}