n. 1. The coat of a mammal, consisting of hair, fur, or wool, as distinct from bare skin. 2. Something that resembles the coat of a mammal: "The hardwoods were a soft pale green in the dark pelage of the conifers" (Peter Matthiessen). [French, from Old French, from peil, pel, hair, from Latin pilus.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.