pellet

/ˈpɛlət/

/ˈpɛlɪt/

Other forms: pellets

A pellet is a small, rounded piece of something, especially a compressed nugget of some material. Many pets eat food that comes in pellets, including some fish, rabbits, and guinea pigs.

You might feed your pet rat pellets each day, or heat your house by burning pellets made of compressed sawdust in a special kind of stove. When it hails or sleets, tiny pellets of ice fall from the sky, and your cousin's BB gun works by shooting tiny metal pellets from its barrel. Pellet is from the Old French pelote, "small ball," which has the Latin pelote, or "ball," as its root.

Definitions of pellet

1. noun

   a small sphere
   type of:

   ball, globe, orb

   an object with a spherical shape
2. noun

   a solid missile discharged from a firearm
   synonyms: shot

   types:

   BB, BB shot

   a small pellet fired from an air rifle or BB gun

   bird shot, buckshot, duck shot

   small lead shot for shotgun shells

   grape, grapeshot

   a cluster of small projectiles fired together from a cannon to produce a hail of shot

   ball, musket ball

   a solid projectile that is shot by a musket

   type of:

   missile, projectile

   a weapon that is forcibly thrown or projected at a target but is not self-propelled