peeled, ppl. a.1
(piːld)
[f. peel v.1 + -ed1. See also pilled.]
1. Stripped of possessions, plundered, reduced to destitution. (Now as fig. of 3 or 4.)
| 1508 Dunbar Flyting 241 Mauch muttoun, vyle buttoun, peilit gluttoun, air to Hilhouse. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iv. 673 For laik of pith he is sa puir and peild. 1659 Gauden Tears of Ch. 355 The indigent and peeled Clergy. 1847 Emerson Poems (1857) 136 Is thy land peeled, thy realm marauded? |
2. Derived or bereft of hair, bald; tonsured;
= pilled ppl. a. 2.
| [1386–1681: see pilled ppl. a. 2.] |
| c 1470 Henryson Three deid Powys Poems (ed. Laing) 31 So sall ye ly ilk ane with peilit powys. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. Prol. 33 Vpgois the bak wyth hir pelit ledderyn flycht. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. iii. 30 Piel'd Priest, doo'st thou command me to be shut out? 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xi, He..cared as little for the peeled as for the shaven. |
3. a. Worn threadbare, as a garment; bare of pasture or herbage, as ground.
b. transf. Beggarly, mean, wretched. (
Cf. bald a. 4, 6.)
| a 1510 Dunbar Petition of Gray Horse Poems lxi. 38 Pastouris that ar plane and peild. c 1530 Redforde Play Wit & Sc. etc. (Shaks. Soc.) 63 We have so manye lasshes to lerne this peelde songe, That I wyll not lye to you now and then among. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 117 Pynd and puir like ony peild tramort. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 88 b, Some rich Gentlemen..goe with a peeld threed bare cloke on their backe. 1625 Lisle Du Bartas, Noe 123 The mount of Emeraudes which is very high, bare and peel'd, without any herbe or tree growing thereon. |
4. a. Stripped of skin, bark, rind, etc.; decorticated, excoriated.
| [1382–1828: see pilled ppl. a. 4.] |
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. II. 7 F ij/2 Compotes of peel'd Verjuice. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 353 This peeled [oak] copse-wood makes excellent fuel. 1848 Lytton Harold vii. v, Each had had..his ‘white palace’ of peeled willow wands. 1894 K. Grahame Pagan P. 22 Pleasures of the mind whereof..the men of muscle and peeled faces are only just beginning to taste. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Peeled grain, a tree branch stripped of its bark. |
b. fig. Of the eyes: Open, on the alert: in
phr. to keep (one's) eyes peeled.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1853 Daily Morning Herald (St. Louis, Missouri) 6 Jan. 2/1 Young man! Keep your eye peeled when you are after the women. 1872 E. Eggleston End of World xxvii. 186 [It would] teach the fellow to let monte alone, and keep his eyes peeled when he traveled. 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius viii, ‘Keep your eye peeled there, will you?’ the Duke shouted. 1886 H. Stevens Recoll. J. Lenox 45 In reading catalogues and reports from all parts of the world, one eye at least was always kept peeled for his desiderata. 1889 Farmer Americanisms, To keep one's eyes peeled,..to keep a sharp look out; to be careful. A variation of ‘to keep one's eyes skinned’. 1901 Munsey's Mag. XXIV. 568/1, I kept my eyes peeled, but I didn't see her in the afternoon crowd. 1906 Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republ. 20 Sept. 16 The carpenters..are keeping their ‘eyes peeled’ for the many coins which have..slid between the planks. 1918 E. O'Neill in Smart Set June 96 We'll have to keep an eye peeled from now on. I know 'em. 1923 L. J. Vance Baroque xvi. 95 He sent a request to the door⁓porter to keep an eye peeled and let him know if the cab..seemed disposed to tarry in the offing. 1945 E. Newhouse in 55 Short Stories from New Yorker (1949) 238 Keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you come across Aladdin's lamp. 1956 B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) xxi. 167 If you're doing something wrong, you know it and you've got at least one eye peeled looking for trouble. 1974 ‘R. Tate’ Birds of Bloodied Feather viii. 163 Keep your eyes peeled for a break in the mist. |
5. In the following passage
scattered and peeled is a doubtful translation; but the expression has become a literary commonplace,
peeled being vaguely associated with one or more of the senses above.
| 1611 Bible Isa. xviii. 2 Goe yee swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled [marg. Or, outspread and polished; Vulg. convulsam et dilaceratam; 1382 Wyclif al to-pullid and torn; 1388 drawun up and to-rent; 1535 Coverdale a desperate and pylled folke; 1885 R.V. to a nation tall and smooth (marg. Or, dragged away and peeled)]. Ibid. 7. 1732 Berkeley Serm. to S.P.G. Wks. III. 247 They lay under the curse of God,..peeled and scattered in a foreign land. 1744 Wesley Addr. to King in Overton Evangel. Revival ix. (1886) 162 A people scattered and peeled and trodden under foot. 1781 Cowper Expost. 246 If Heaven spared not us, Peeled, scattered, and exterminated thus. 1883 J. Mackenzie Day-dawn in Dark Places 63 The harmless vassalls..are then scattered and peeled, driven hither and thither, and mercilessly killed. |
| fig. 1892 Daily News 7 Mar. 3/5 The utter rout of the Reactionaries has made the peeled and wasted remnant that remain utterly incapable of hindering the work. |
Hence
ˈpeeledness (also
pielde-).
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Escorcheure du siege, the pieldenesse of the seate. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. ii. 143 From a disease, scab and peelednesse. |