pellet
Americannoun
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a small, rounded or spherical body, as of food or medicine.
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a small wad or ball of wax, paper, etc., for throwing, shooting, or the like.
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one of a charge of small shot, as for a shotgun.
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a bullet.
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a ball, usually of stone, formerly used as a missile.
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Also called cast. Ornithology. a small, roundish mass of matter regurgitated by certain predatory birds, consisting of the indigestible remains, as the fur, feathers, and bones, of the prey.
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(in Romanesque architecture) a hemispherical or disklike carved ornament.
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Heraldry. ogress.
verb (used with object)
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to form into pellets; pelletize.
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to hit with pellets.
noun
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a small round ball, esp of compressed matter
a wax pellet
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an imitation bullet used in toy guns
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a piece of small shot
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a stone ball formerly used as a catapult or cannon missile
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Also called: cast. casting. ornithol a mass of undigested food, including bones, fur, feathers, etc, that is regurgitated by certain birds, esp birds of prey
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a small pill
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a raised area on coins and carved or moulded ornaments
verb
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to strike with pellets
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to make or form into pellets
Other Word Forms
- pelletlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of pellet
1325–75; Middle English pelet < Middle French pelote < Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila ball. See pill 1, -et
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Its 2025 performance was driven by record levels of biomass generation, pellet production and earnings from its hydro unit, they say.
His eyelids were freezing together, and soon they would be bound shut as ice pellets whipped his face from all directions.
From Literature
ICF uses powerful lasers or electrical charges to squeeze tiny fuel pellets rapidly until their atoms fuse—like a controlled, miniature version of the process that powers the sun.
Uranium hexafluoride is an intermediate product between uranium ore and nuclear fuel pellets.
From Barron's
When he’d opened the door, the ground had been covered in golf-ball-size ice pellets for as far as he could see.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
