Synonyms
Noun (1)
Verb (2)
- barrel
- belt
- blast
- blaze
- blow
- bolt
- bomb [slang]
- bowl
- breeze
- bundle
- bustle
- buzz
- cannonball
- careen
- career
- chase
- course
- crack (on)
- dash
- drive
- fly
- hare
- hasten
- hie
- highball
- hotfoot (it)
- hump
- hurl
- hurry
- hurtle
- hustle
- jet
- jump
- motor
- nip
- race
- ram
- rip
- rocket
- run
- rush
- rustle
- scoot
- scurry
- scuttle
- shoot
- speed
- step
- tear
- travel
- trot
- whirl
- whisk
- zip
- zoom
Noun (2)
- bang
- bash
- bat
- beat
- belt
- biff
- blow
- bop
- box
- buffet
- bust
- chop
- clap
- clip
- clout
- crack
- cuff
- dab
- douse [British]
- fillip
- hack
- haymaker
- hit
- hook
- knock
- larrup [dialect]
- lash
- lick
- pick
- plump
- poke
- pound
- punch
- rap
- slam
- slap
- slug
- smack
- smash
- sock
- spank
- stinger
- stripe
- stroke
- swat
- swipe
- switch
- thud
- thump
- thwack
- wallop
- welt
- whack
- wham
- whop
- whap
Examples of pelt in a Sentence
Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2024
Haryana police in a post on X, formerly Twitter, said 12 officers were injured after protesters attacked them with sticks and pelted them with stones.
—Altaf Qadri and Krutika Pathi, Quartz, 21 Feb. 2024
There was no way the race could have happened Sunday because of the heavy rains that pelted California and continue to affect the area.
—John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb. 2024
Instead, all of them pelted into the building, and one hit its target — Venencio-Tapia, argued state attorneys William Bunting and Desmond McCallum.
—Julia Coin, Charlotte Observer, 8 Feb. 2024
Strikers picketing outside a Los Angeles hotel were pelted by steel ball bearings on at least two occasions, California police reported.
—Don Sweeney, Sacramento Bee, 29 Jan. 2024
After dark, rock groups and rappers perform on the street, liter-bottles of lager circulate and attendees sometimes pelt images of (allegedly) corrupt politicians with red paint.
—Laurence Blair, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Their days are taken up with shooting practice, lobster racing, pelting men with fruit, and slipping poison into unattended cups of tea.
—Radhika Seth, Vogue, 22 Feb. 2024
The race was delayed by a day due to the incessant rain that pelted Daytona International Speedway over the weekend.
—Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 20 Feb. 2024
Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2024
Besides, their pelts are in bad condition at that time of year, and they are not hunted for food.
—Jennifer Dixon, Detroit Free Press, 15 Mar. 2024
There were the pelts of small mammals and birds that hung in our garage — and from which my dad scavenged to make fishing flies.
—Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2024
Fur trappers, the almanac stated, used this time also to hunt beavers for their pelts.
—John Tufts, The Indianapolis Star, 2 Jan. 2024
Sea otters were nearly hunted to extinction in the 18th and 19th centuries for their pelts.
—Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 31 Jan. 2024
Kistler says the pelt may make a visit back home to the West Coast in 2025 for a meeting of the Coast Salish.
—Alicia Ault, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Jan. 2024
In addition, analyses of the animals’ bones and pelts suggest the bears were primarily eating plants—both before and after Europeans arrived in the region in 1542—which stands in stark contrast to their fearsome, hyper-carnivorous reputation.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Jan. 2024
Mutton’s pelt had been studied before, in the early 2000s, to help determine whether textiles held by various museums contained woolly dog fibers.
—Alicia Ault, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pelt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun (1) and Verb (1)
Middle English, probably from pelett animal skin, from Anglo-French pelette — more at peltry
Verb (2)
Middle English
Noun (1)
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb (1)
1568, in the meaning defined above
Verb (2)
15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a
Noun (2)
circa 1540, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near pelt
Cite this Entry
“Pelt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pelt. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
pelt
1 of 2 nounpelt
2 of 2 verbNoun
Middle English pelt "skin and attached fur of an animal"
Verb
Middle English pelten "to hit with a series of blows, pelt"
More from Merriam-Webster on pelt
Nglish: Translation of pelt for Spanish Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about pelt
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