peel off

peel ¹  (pl)

n.

1. The skin or rind of certain fruits and vegetables.

2. A chemical peel.

v. peeled, peel·ing, peels

v.tr.

1. To strip or cut away the skin, rind, or bark from; pare.

2. To strip away; pull off: peeled the label from the jar.

v.intr.

1. To lose or shed skin, bark, or other covering.

2. To come off in thin strips or pieces, as bark, skin, or paint: Her sunburned skin began to peel.

3. Slang To remove one's clothes; undress.

Phrasal Verb:

peel off

1. To leave flight formation in order to land or make a dive. Used of an aircraft.

2. To leave or depart.

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[From Middle English pilen, pelen, to peel, from Old French peler, and Old English pilian (both from Latin pilre, to deprive of hair, from pilus, hair) and from Old French pillier, to tug, pull, plunder (from Latin pilleum, felt cap).]

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peel ²  (pl)

n.

1. A long-handled, shovellike tool used by bakers to move bread or pastries into and out of an oven.

2. Printing A T-shaped pole used for hanging up freshly printed sheets of paper to dry.

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[Middle English, from Old French pele, from Latin pla, spade, peel; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

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peel ³  (pl)

n.

A fortified house or tower of a kind constructed in the borderland of Scotland and England in the 16th century.

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[Middle English pel, stake, small castle, from Anglo-Norman, stockade, variant of Old French, stake, from Latin plus; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

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peel off

Verb

1. to remove or be removed by peeling: this softens the paint, which can then be peeled off

2. Slang to take off one's clothes or a piece of clothing

3. to leave a group of moving people, vehicles etc. by taking a course that curves away to one side: two aircraft peeled off to attack the enemy bombers

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	peel off - peel off the outer layer of something peel, pare, skin - strip the skin off; "pare apples" exfoliate - remove the surface, in scales or laminae
	2.	peel off - take off, as with some difficulty; "He peeled off his blood-soaked shirt" take off - remove clothes; "take off your shirt--it's very hot in here"
	3.	peel off - leave a formation air travel, aviation, air - travel via aircraft; "air travel involves too much waiting in airports"; "if you've time to spare go by air" sheer, slew, slue, swerve, trend, veer, curve, cut - turn sharply; change direction abruptly; "The car cut to the left at the intersection"; "The motorbike veered to the right"
	4.	peel off - come off in flakes or thin small pieces; "The paint in my house is peeling off" flake off, peel, flake chip, chip off, break away, break off, come off - break off (a piece from a whole); "Her tooth chipped"
	5.	peel off - peel off in scales; "dry skin desquamates" desquamate exuviate, molt, moult, slough, shed - cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers; "our dog sheds every Spring"