pellet

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pellet/ˈpelɪt/

▶noun

• 1 a small, rounded, compressed mass of a substance.

  ■ a small mass of bones and feathers regurgitated by a bird of prey.

• 2 a piece of small shot or other lightweight bullet.

▶verb (pellets, pelleting, pelleted)

• 1 form into pellets.

• 2 hit with or as if with pellets.

– derivatives
pelletize (or pelletise) verb.

– origin ME: from OFr. pelote ‘metal ball’, from a dimin. of L. pila ‘ball’.