Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to pelt with snowballs

to pelt with snowballs

1 5.6
Throw many snowballs at a person or thing, usually hard
  • phrasal verb
  • UK
translation icon : bombardear con bolas de nieve
  • They pelted a motorist with snowballs.

Examples

  • I was 12 years old, I pelted her with snowballs and I stole her lunchbox.

    Extreme Dating (2005)

  • They were pelted with snowballs as the opposing team caught them unaware.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Laughing heartily, Louise pelted her brother Emile with icy snowballs as he rounded the wall surrounding the castle garden.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • According to an eyewitness, a D.C. police detective (pictured above with gun) went nuts after kids pelted his Hummer with snowballs at 14th and U Streets NW this afternoon.

    Blog text (13)

  • The children laughed as they pelted each other with snowballs in the park.

  • During the snowstorm, teenagers pelted passing cars with snowballs for fun.

  • As the snow piled up, the kids decided to pelt their friends with soft snowballs.

Synonyms

to bombard
vsto pelt with snowballs
13 5.4

To attack something repeatedly by throwing things like stones or bombs

is the same repetition but limited to small frozen balls not heavy weapons
to pelt
vsto pelt with snowballs
12 5.5

To throw things repeatedly at a person or place

targets the same action but uses small balls of frozen water repeatedly and forcefully
to snowball
vsto pelt with snowballs
  • UK
1.1

To throw snowballs at someone for fun

adds repeated and forceful throws rather than single or gentle ones

Antonyms

to protect
∞ 1.0

To keep someone or something safe from harm

How Forceful

to pelt with snowballs
  • UK
1 5.6
to snowball
  • UK
1.1

Surface Forms

pelt with snowballs infinitive
pelted with snowballs past
pelted with snowballs past participle
pelting with snowballs present participle
pelts with snowballs third person singular

Morphology

pelt + with + snowball

The phrase's meaning is directly built from 'pelt' (to bombard by throwing) plus the instrumental preposition 'with' and the noun 'snowballs', so a learner who knows those words can reconstruct the action of repeatedly throwing snowballs. This verb + with + instrument pattern is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common composition, making the expression immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Pelt with snowballs paints a clear picture: people throw many hard snowballs at someone so the target is hit again and again. That's why it means 'to throw snowballs at someone or something repeatedly and forcefully'.