peel¹ / pēl/ • v. 1. [tr.] remove the outer covering or skin from (a fruit, vegetable, or shrimp): she watched him peel an apple with deliberate care. ∎  remove (the outer covering or skin) from a fruit or vegetable: peel off the skins and thickly slice the potatoes. ∎  [intr.] (of a fruit or vegetable) have a skin that can be removed: oranges that peel easily. ∎  (peel something away/off) remove or separate a thin covering or part from the outside or surface of something: carefully peel away the wax paper. ∎  remove (an article of clothing): Suzy peeled off her white pullover.2. [intr.] (of a surface or object) lose parts of its outer layer or covering in small strips or pieces: the walls are peeling. ∎  (of an outer layer or covering) come off, esp. in strips or small pieces.• n. the outer covering or rind of a fruit or vegetable.PHRASAL VERBS: peel off (of a member of a formation, esp. a flying formation) leave the formation by veering away to one side: the pace was much too hot for Beris, and he peeled off after five laps.peel out inf. leave quickly: he peeled out down the street.peel² • n. a flat, shovellike implement, esp. one used by baker for carrying loaves, pies, etc., into or out of an oven: a wooden pizza peel.peel³ (also pele or peel tower) • n. a small square defensive tower of a kind built in the 16th century in the border counties of England and Scotland.peel⁴ • v. [tr.] Croquet send (another player's ball) through a wicket: the better players are capable of peeling a ball through two or three wickets.

peel a small square defensive tower of a kind built in the 16th century in the border counties of England and Scotland. The word comes from Anglo-Norman French pel ‘stake, palisade’, from Latin palus ‘stake’.

peel, pele. Fortified tower-house with vaulted ground-floor for cattle or storage, found especially in the Border-country between Scotland and England.

peel2
A. †plunder, pillage XIII;

B. strip outer layer of XV. ME. peolien, pilien, later pele, pile, pill, repr. OE. *peolian, *pilian, recorded only late in pyleð peels (intr.) — L. pilāre.
Hence peel sb. rind, skin. XVI.

peel1 †stake, fence of stakes XIV; (prob. short for †p. house XVI) small fortified dwelling or tower on the Scottish Border XVIII. — AN., OF. pel (mod. pieu) stake:— L. pālus PALE1.