pelt
/pɛlt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.89 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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).
Example Sentences
- "Perhaps the reason why he [a stuffed fox] seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too."
- "My people got themselves pelts and pelts—there was such a trapping as comes but few times in a life. Pelts and pelts, the silver and the grey—fine pelts."
- "Near-synonym: coat"
- "The Cauſes and the Signs ſhall next be told, / Of ev'ry Sickneſs that infects the Fold [of sheep]. / A ſcabby Tetter on their pelts vvill ſtick, / VVhen the ravv Rain has pierc'd 'em to the quick: […]"
- "Put on your dress, ye shameless witch, standin' there in your pelt I'll take a strap to, for havin' the conceit out of you, for by your idling had lost me the sup of gin to keep the breath of life in me. Cover your scut, or I'll welt the skin off it."
- "If two [hawks] are flown they are certain to fell the game at once, and the falconer is always flurried by their violent propensity to crab over the "pelt.""
Etymology
The noun is inherited from Middle English pelt (“skin of a sheep, especially without the wool”); further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from Middle English pellet (“skin of an animal, especially a sheep”), from Anglo-Norman pelette, pellet, and Old French pelete, pelette (“thin layer, film, skin; epidermis; foreskin”), from pel (“skin; garment made of animal skin, pelisse”) (from Latin pellis (“animal skin, hide, pelt; leather; garment made of animal skin”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover; to wrap; hide; skin; cloth”)) + -ete (diminutive suffix); or * from Late Latin peletta, pelleta, pelletta (“skin of an animal, especially a sheep”). Related to fell, pilch, film. Also compare Old Norse feldr (“pelt”). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Norwegian Bokmål pels (“fur; fur coat”) * Norwegian Nynorsk pels (“fur; fur coat”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɛlt/
- British English: /pɛlt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
pelts (plural)
pelts (present, singular)
pelting (participle, present)
pelted (participle, past)
pelted (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
pelted (first person, past)
peltest (archaic, present)
pelted (past, second person)
peltedst (archaic, past)
pelteth (archaic, present)