ETYM Confused with peel to strip, but from French piller to pillage. Related to Pill to rob, Pillage.
(Homonym: peal).
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1. To remove the top layer of something, such as the rind of a fruit.
2. To strip off an outer layer of.
3. To remove by stripping.
4. To take off one's clothes.
5. To break away from a group or formation — often used with off.
1. To come off in flakes or thin small pieces; SYN. peel, flake off, flake.
2. To peel off the outer layer of something.
3. To take off, as with some difficulty
4. To leave a formation; of airplanes.