Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Undressed pelts considered as a group.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A trifle; trash.
  • noun Pelts collectively, or a lot of pelts together: usually applied in furriery to raw pelts with the fur on, dried or otherwise cured, but not yet tanned or dressed into the furs as worn.
  • noun A pelt; a fur-skin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Pelts or skins, collectively; skins with the fur on them; furs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Pelts or skins, collectively; skins with the fur on them; furs.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French peleterie, from peletier, furrier, from pel, skin, from Latin pellis; see pel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French peleterie, the trade of a skinner or peltmonger.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word peltry.

Examples

  • Nor would the theory account for the absence of a taboo in the lower savagery, nor for the totemistic character of the lady, nor, least of all, for the peltry which is the most picturesque, if not the most important, incident in this group of tales.

    The Science of Fairy Tales An Inquiry into Fairy Mythology Edwin Sidney Hartland 1887

  • Now it so happened that there was none of this kind of peltry at the fort of old Baranoff.

    Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains 1836

  • Now it so happened that there was none of this kind of peltry at the fort of old Baranoff.

    Astoria, or, anecdotes of an enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains Washington Irving 1821

  • Father Lalemant enumerates the kind of peltry obtained by the French from the Indians, and the amount, as follows.

    Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 01 Samuel de Champlain 1601

  • The taboo, strictly speaking, only appears where the peltry is absent.

    FALSE MERMAID ERIN HART 2010

  • The taboo, strictly speaking, only appears where the peltry is absent.

    FALSE MERMAID ERIN HART 2010

  • We've heard a lot of peltry from Barack Obama, as Hillary Clinton used to say.

    CNN Transcript Dec 4, 2008 2008

  • Soleure would fain have joined with him in conversation respecting trade and merchandize, yet the Englishman, who dealt in articles of small bulk and considerable value, and traversed sea and land to carry on his traffic, could find few mutual topics to discuss with the Swiss trader, whose commerce only extended into the neighboring districts of Burgundy and Germany, and whose goods consisted of coarse woollen cloths, fustian, hides, peltry and such ordinary articles.

    Anne of Geierstein 2008

  • The mud roof was covered with lynx, beaver, and other furs laid out to dry, beaver paws were pinned out on the logs, a part of the carcass of a deer hung at one end of the cabin, a skinned beaver lay in front of a heap of peltry just within the door, and antlers of deer, old horseshoes, and offal of many animals, lay about the den.

    A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains 2007

  • Canoes laden with peltry were perhaps the only craft which disturbed the waters of the Detroit river.

    The Englishwoman in America 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "...wild barbarians, whose red painted faces flash from out their peltry wigwams..."

    - Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 54

    July 25, 2008