‖ peloˈton
Also 8 peleton(e.
[F. peloton (plɔtɔ̃), deriv. of pelote (11th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) ball, heap, platoon, Pr., Sp. pelota, It. pillotta:—pop. L. pilotta, dim. of pila ball.]
† 1. A small ball or spherical mass. Obs. rare.
| 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. 93 To pelter him with Heaps and Clouds of those Historical Balls or Librarian Bullets, or Pelotes or Peletons. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Presage, Other Presages of Rain are, the falling down of Chimney-Soot all on a sudden..; the heaping of Ashes into Peletones. |
2. A small body of soldiers; = platoon.
| 1706 Phillips, Peloton, see Plotton. 1744 Tindal tr. Rapin's Hist. Eng. III. Contin. 209/1 Before he suffered any peloton of his battalion to discharge. 1883 A. Forbes in Fortn. Rev. 1 Nov. 664 A brilliant officer in command of anything from a peloton to an army corps. |
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Add: pronunc. (ˈpɛlətɒn, pɛləˈtɒn). [2.] b. Cycling. A group or ‘bunch’ of cyclists in a cycle race.
| 1951 L. Pullen Road to Speed 42/2 By the time a spare machine arrived, the peloton had passed him, and he talked of abandoning. 1960 Times 16 June 17/7 Bradley and the Swedes kept this peloton..swinging along at 27 miles an hour. 1988 Bicycle Midsummer 17/1 A gradual wearing down thinned out the peloton which contained no shortage of people prepared to attack. |
3. With capital initial. A type of ornamental glassware (first manufactured in Bohemia) decorated with glass filaments or threads in contrasting colours.
| 1881 Brit. Pat. 4346, 1880: Specification 2 This Invention relates to a novel kind of decoration of glass, forming what may be termed a vermiculated or thread, wound, clustered, or grouped glass, but to which the designation has been given of ‘Peloton glass’. 1959 A. C. Revi 19th Cent. Glass 108 Peloton glass was quite popular both in America and in England where Mr. Kralik also filed patent papers. 1975 R. H. Vose Glass (Antique Collector's Guides) viii. 197/2 (caption) Vase in peloton glass. 1977 H. Newman Illustr. Dict. Glass 236 Peloton glass, a type of art glass decorated with applied short thin filaments of glass. It was patented in Bohemia in 1880 by Wilhelm Kralik of Neuwelt. |