pellet
pronunciation
How to pronounce pellet in British English:
UK [ˈpelɪt]
How to pronounce pellet in American English:
US [ˈpɛlɪt]
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- Noun:
- a small sphere
- a solid missile discharged from a firearm
Word Origin
- pellet
- pellet: [14] Etymologically, a pellet is a ‘little ball’. It comes via Old French pelote (a relative of Spanish pelota ‘ball’, from which the name of the Basque ball-game pelota [19] comes) from Vulgar Latin *pilotta, a diminutive form of Latin pila ‘ball’ (source of English pill [15] and piles ‘haemorrhoids’ [15]). Pelt ‘throw things at’ [15] may have originated as a contraction of pellet (although a possible alternative source is Latin pultāre ‘hit’); and platoon comes from a diminutive form of French pelote.=> pelota, pelt, piles, platoon
- pellet (n.)
- mid-14c., from Old French pelote "small ball" (11c.), from Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila "ball, playing ball, the game of ball," perhaps originally "ball of hair," from pilus "hair" (see pile (n.3)).
- pellet (v.)
- "to form into pellets," 1590s, from pellet (n.).
Example
- 1. Don 't allow your child to play with nonpowder rifles , such as pellet guns or bb guns .
- 2. Just before or after the transformation from larvae into adult bug , the individual releases a very stinky pellet that contains all of the built-up waste .
- 3. Skinner would begin a lecture by placing a pigeon in a cage with an automatic feeder that delivered a food pellet every 15 seconds .
- 4. The solid fuel pellet ( a ceramic oxide matrix ) is the first barrier that retains many of the radioactive fission products produced by the fission process .
- 5. If you want to train a laboratory rat to pull a crank to get a food pellet , the reflex will be scratched in deeper if the creature is rewarded with some regularity but not all the time .