skin

skin n Skin, hide, pelt, rind, bark, peel can all denote an outer removable coat which adheres to and protects the inner tissues of a body or organism.

Skin, the most general term, applies especially to the outer covering of animals, whether it is as delicate as the one which covers the human body or as tough as the one which covers a rhinoceros; it is used also of the outer coverings of various fruits, plants, and seeds especially when they are thin and tight

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the skin of an apple

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the skin of an almond

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Skin applies to this integument whether it covers the living organism or has been stripped from it. Hide applies to the tough skin of large animals (as the rhinoceros or the horse); in commercial use it is applied specifically to the raw or undressed skins of cattle, horses, and other large animals, sometimes in distinction from those of calves, sheep, and goats, which are commonly described merely as skins. Pelt is applied chiefly to the skin of an animal that is covered with hair, fur, or wool; in commerce it usually denotes an undressed skin of any of these animals and especially of a furred animal. It is applied also to the skin of a sheep or goat stripped of wool or hair and ready for tanning. Rind applies chiefly to the thick, tough, and often inelastic outer layer which covers certain fruits (as oranges and melons) or the stems and roots of some woody perennial plants (then usually called bark). The hardened skin on smoked meats (as bacon) and the hardened crust of molded cheeses are also called rinds. A skin or rind of a fruit or a portion of it that is or may be stripped free is called peel

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slip on a banana peel

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can- died orange peel

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skin vb Skin, decorticate, peel, pare, flay can mean to divest something of its skin or thin outer covering.

Skin is the most general of these terms, being applicable to any animal as well as to any plant or plant part that is covered by or as if by a skin

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skin calves slaughtered for the market

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do not skin, but wash the eggplants in iced water— Dione Lucas

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skin the bark off a birch tree

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Decorticate is applicable when an outer layer (as of bark, fiber, or husk) is to be removed by stripping

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obviated the necessity of fully decorticating the canna stalks— Edward Samuel

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the decorticated seeds are crushed and pressed— Riegel

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Peel and pare are frequently interchanged but distinctively peel may imply that the skin or outer covering can be removed by stripping or by pulling off while pare tends to be used when it requires to be cut off, usually with some of the adjoining substance; thus, freshly boiled potatoes can be easily peeled, but uncooked ones must be either scraped or pared; one speaks usually of peeling an orange because its rind may be stripped by the hand; one speaks usually of paring an apple since the skin is not easily detached from the flesh; one peels a hard-boiled egg. But pare may also be used of anything that is cut close and so is applicable to many things which do not have a skin or rind

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pared his toenails

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pare expenses to a minimum

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Flay tends to be applied largely to persons often in threats or in descriptions of torture or of cruel punishment (as scourging)

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he said he would flay the man alive if he again caught him prowling around

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they killed and flayed a number of slaves and captives— Coon

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campaign pledge to ban the medieval practice of flaying unruly convicts— Time

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the son and his mother flay one another with their words— Fowlie

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