1. to strip off an outer layer of
peel an orange
2. to remove by stripping
peel the label off the can
3. to come off in sheets or scales
The paint is peeling.
4. to lose an outer layer (as of skin)
His face is peeling.
5. to take off one's clothes
it got hotter … you had to peel to get relief
— L. M. Uris
6. to break away from a group or formation —often used with off
Like corals, the branches of sponges can peel off and reestablish themselves as new colonies. Natural History
7. the skin or rind of a fruit or vegetable
banana/lemon/potato peels
8. a thin layer of organic material that is embedded in a film of collodion and stripped from the surface of an object (such as a plant fossil) for microscopic study
9. chemical peel
10. a usually long-handled spade-shaped instrument that is used chiefly by bakers for getting something (such as bread or pies) into or out of the oven
11. a medieval small massive fortified tower along the Scottish-English border — called also peel tower
12. Sir Robert 1788–1850 English statesman
13. river 425 miles (684 kilometers) long in northwestern Canada rising in western Yukon (territory) and flowing east and north into the Mackenzie River
14. to remove the skin from (a fruit, vegetable, etc.)
15. to remove (a covering, shell, etc.) from something
16. to come off in pieces
17. to strip off the skin or bark of
I'm peeling apples.
18. to strip or tear off
He peeled off his clothes down to his swimming trunks …
— Virginia Hamilton, M.C. Higgins
19. to come off smoothly or in bits
The paint is peeling.
20. an outer covering and especially the skin of a fruit
21. to strip off an outer layer of
22. to remove (as skin or a blemish) by stripping
23. to come off in sheets or scales
sunburned skin peels
24. to lose an outer layer (as of skin)
his face is peeling
25. chemical peel