peel, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

peel v.

1. to extract money from a wallet surreptitiously.

1836		H.M. Milner Turpin’s Ride to York II v: Sam: Peel my skin and dub up the browns! What do you mean? Bal.: Just this – that if you do not hand over your money I shall blow out your brains! [F&H].
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 366: We grifters had a damn good right to nick a front or peel a poke so long as Wall Street and Washington were picking everybody’s pockets.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 84: He still hung around, so I peeled off a quid and handed it to him.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 39: I’m going to try and teach you how to peel.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 13: Mrs. Ralphie grabbed the keys and peeled a ten-spot.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 96: When it came to peeling off the dosh, which he had done from a wad of readies on the bedside table, Brendan had been too pissed [...] to count properly.

2. (US) to punch, to wound.

1856		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 23 Aug. n.p.: Look out, Ed, or you will get peeled again over the peeper.
1932		W.R. Burnett Giant Swing 50: ‘Peel him, Maxie.’ Cursing, Max pulled away from Spanish and, setting himself, swung.

3. (US Und.) to break into a safe.

1969		B. Jackson Thief’s Primer 53: Peel – that means just what it says. You open them like a can of sardines without a key. You just get at the corner and whip it. You need a big cold chisel.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 122: It’ll take about three, four hours to peel the safe.
2001		Thug’s Journal 3 Mar. 🌐 Peeled a safe or two. I’m a knob-knocker. Was a car banger.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 227: The best way to crack a safe is from the back and is known as ‘peeling’.

4. (US) to shave one’s hair to the bone.

2023

F. Bill Back to the Dirt 35: [T]he Marines broke you down and built you back up. Everyone got their heads peeled, was issued the same fatigues, boots, linen, and bed.

5. (also peel a can) to drink.

1983

S. King Christine 529: Come on over some night and peel a few cans with me.

6. to rob someone of their valuables.

2008

A. Wheatle Dirty South 36: I remembered one of the Africans yelling, ‘Peel him!’ My rings were wrenched off my fingers and they took my wallet. My Nikes were pulled off as well.

7. see peel rubber under rubber n.²

SE in slang uses

In derivatives

peeled (adj.)

1. with a shaven head.

1533

J. Heywood A Merry Play in Farmer (1905) 76: Now a vengeance and a very mischief / Light on the peel’d priest, and on my wife.

2. naked.

1939		H. Miller Tropic of Capricorn (1964) 135: To come into his presence gave me the sense of being undressed, or rather peeled.
1948		Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 27 Nov. [synd. col.] The problem of finding which room that peeled banana belonged in when she was found wandering down the lobby.

3. (S.Afr. gay) circumcised.

2003

K. Cage Gayle 87/2: peeled queen n. circumcised gay man.

peeler (n.)

(US) a striptease or burlesque artist.

1942		Billboard 14 Nov. 15/2: Current show is headed by Hinda Wausau, who will give cards and spades to any peeler in this theater.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 129: A joking conversation between Fancy and a round-shouldered little peep-show peeler [...] who called herself Venus darling.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 94: Boston is nationally noted for its burlesque and its peelers.
1957		L. Sobel 2 Apr. [synd. col.] A show full of [...] grinders, peelers, and bumpers [W&F].

In compounds

peeled egg (n.)

(Ulster) anything easy or simple.

1997

Share Slanguage.

peel-head (adj.) (also peely)

(W.I.) bald, esp. as a description of certain species of chickens or vultures.

1902		J. Speirs Proverbs of British Guiana 22: If you cuss John Crow ‘Peel head,’ guinea hen bex.
1910		Anderson & Cundall Jamaica Proverbs and Sayings 28: If you cuss John Crow peel-head, turkey wi’ bex.
1943		L. Bennett ‘Jamaica Ant’emt’ in Jam. Humour 7: It hooda suit one genkleman / Fe sing ‘Peel head John-crow’.
1950		Bennett, Clarke & Wilson Anancy Stories and Dialect Verse 21: Me noh mean fe ceitful, but is how Peel-head a goh a barba an she noh got a ‘kench’ a hair pon her head.
1983		V. Bloom ‘Wat A Rain’ in Touch Mi, Tell Mi 18: Mi see tup dung a fiahside, / Two big fat peely chicken.
1994		M. Montague Dread Culture 33: Look pon dat lickle bwoy pickney. Why dem cut off him hair so? It look like peel head John Crow.

In phrases

peel a can (v.)

see sense 3 above.

peel a fine green banana (v.) [banana n. (3a)]

(US black) to seduce an attractive, light-skinned woman.

1944

‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

peel caps (v.) (also peel a cap, ...someone’s cap, peal...) [lit. ‘to peel the flesh from someone’s skull’]

(US black/teen) to attack violently; to kill.

1988		Too $hort ‘Life Is Too $hort’ 🎵 The task force tryin’ ta peel your cap.
1993		Dr Dre ‘187’ 🎵 Droppin’ like this and like that, / Rat-tat-tat-tat with their caps peelin’ back.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Cap pealed: Someone’s head, as in ‘I’m gonna peal his cap’.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 158: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Bust a cap. Peel your cap. Pull your card. Protect ya neck.
2005		L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 179: Another album [...] had a track called ‘Hustlaz and Cap Pealas’. [...] ‘Pealing a cap is killing you,’ J-Dogg said.
2012		Schoolboy Q ‘Raymond 1969’ 🎵 Murder-murder kill, get your fuckin cap peeled.

peel it (v.) [var. on SE peel off]

(US) to run at full speed.

1859

Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (2nd edn) 314: To Peel it, to run at full speed. ‘Come, boys, peel it now, or you’ll be late.’ .

peel off (v.)

see peel rubber under rubber n.²

peel off a mass (v.) [W.I./UK black teen mass money]

(W.I./UK black teen) to hand out money.

1993–2002

Probert Encyc. 🌐 Peel off a mass is Jamaican slang for to hand out money.

peel one’s (best) end (v.) [the sliding back of the foreskin]

to enter a woman’s vagina.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 98: Doubler. To copulate; ‘to peel one’s end in’.

peel rubber (v.)

see under rubber n.²

peel someone’s knob (v.) [knob n. (1b)]

(US) to beat someone up.

1935

J. Conroy World to Win 210: Go on and be a scab if you want to. I hope somebody peels your knob.

peel someone’s potatoes (v.) [i.e. to ‘peel’ someone’s testicles]

(US black) to beat up, to harm badly.

2000

Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 peel your potatoes Definition: to separate someone from their testicles Example: I’m gonna peel your potatoes!

peel the banana (v.) [banana n. (2a)]

to masturbate.

1989

H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 35: The banana suggests the penis, therefore sex, as in a popular English music hall song of the WW1 period. ‘I had a banana / with Lady Diana’. From this idea, it follows naturally that to have one’s banana peeled is a figure of speech for copulation.

peel the bark (v.) [bark n.¹ (1)]

in boxing, to draw blood.

1835		D. Crockett Col. Crockett’s Tour to North and Down East 146: Well, it wasn’t long before Sam peeled the bark off of a parly’s knowledge-box.
1856		Abbeville Banner (SC) 19 June 1/5: Tan his hide [...] peel the bark off his nose — and damage his skin!
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 190: He most amiably returned the compliment on Jack’s cheek, ‘peeling the bark,’ setting the ‘red ink’ running.