pellet

Meanings

Noun

• A small, compressed, hard chunk of matter.
• A lead projectile used as ammunition in rifled air guns.
• Compressed byproduct of digestion regurgitated by owls. Serves as a waste disposal mechanism for indigestible parts of food, such as fur and bones.
• A roundel sable (black circular spot; also called ogress).
• One of the short conductive tubes in a Pelletron particle accelerator.

Verb

• To form into pellets.
• To strike with pellets.

Origin

• From Old French pelote ("small ball"), from Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila ("ball"). pelota.