pellet

Inherited from Middle English pelote, pelet, from Old French pelote (“small ball”), from Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila (“ball”). Doublet of pelota.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛlɪt/

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• Rhymes: -ɛlɪt

pellet (plural pellets)

1. A small, compressed, hard chunk of matter.

   a pellet of wood, paper, or ore

2. A lead projectile used as ammunition in rifled air guns.
3. Compressed byproduct of digestion regurgitated by owls and many other birds of prey, which serves as a waste disposal mechanism for indigestible parts of food, such as fur and bones.
4. (heraldry) A roundel sable (black circular spot; also called ogress).
5. One of the short conductive tubes in a Pelletron particle accelerator.

• → Catalan: pèl·let

pellet (third-person singular simple present pellets, present participle pelleting, simple past and past participle pelleted)

1. To form into pellets.

   Synonym: pelletize

2. To strike with pellets.

• pellet at OneLook Dictionary Search

pellet

1. nominative plural of pelle

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pellet

1. second-person plural subjunctive I of pellen

pellet

1. third-person singular future active indicative of pellō

pellet m (plural pellets)

1. pellet (projectile)