peel

Everyday

1. To peel is to take the skin off fruit or vegetables. tree →
2. The peel is the skin, like a banana peel or orange peel. tree →
3. To peel can mean that a thin layer comes off by itself: paint peels, skin peels after sunburn. tree →
4. To peel off a sticker is to pull it away. tree →
5. To peel can also mean to strip the bark off a tree or a stick. tree →

In the lessons

In maths: an action done to fruit; peels per minute; the weight of the peel taken away. In the kitchen: peeling potatoes and carrots with an adult. In science: skin peels after sunburn; old paint peels in the sun and rain. In stories: «Keep your eyes peeled» means watch carefully.

Examples

• She peels 6 potatoes. tree →
• He peels 3 apples a minute. tree →
• The orange peel weighs 40 grams. tree →
• How many potatoes are peeled in 5 minutes? tree →
• Peel the banana before you eat it. tree →
• The paint on the old fence is peeling. tree →
• My nose peeled after the sunburn. tree →
• Peel off the sticker carefully. tree →
• Keep your eyes peeled for the bus. tree →
• He grasped the hatchet quickly to peel off the bark and shape the wood. tree →

Note

Peeling at a speed is a rate: total = rate × time. Peel weight is taken away from the whole fruit. Trap: peeled potatoes are still the same number of potatoes. «Peel» (the skin) is usually uncountable. Homophone: peal (the ringing of bells). Safety: use a peeler carefully and ask an adult; a banana peel on the floor is slippery.

In Jewish tradition

Jacob strips the bark from rods to make white streaks, as part of his plan with Laban's flocks.

Interpretation. Commentators discuss this episode as Jacob's cleverness, but many say his success came from God's help and not from the rods.

Examples

• And Jacob took him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane-tree; and peeled white streaks in them, making the white appear which was in the rods. (Torah GEN.30.37, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink. (Torah GEN.30.38, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Peeling at a speed is a rate: total = rate × time. Peel weight is taken away from the whole fruit. Trap: peeled potatoes are still the same number of potatoes. «Peel» (the skin) is usually uncountable. Homophone: peal (the ringing of bells). Safety: use a peeler carefully and ask an adult; a banana peel on the floor is slippery.