From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpelletpel‧let /ˈpelɪt/ noun [countable] 1 CFa small ball of a substance food pellets for rabbits2 a small ball of metal made to be fired from a gun shotgun pellets
Examples from the Corpus
pellet• Bone and pellets preserved at an owl's nest site are often exposed to trampling by the owls themselves.• It was an accident of course but old Colonel Saunchie got a few pellets in him.• When the lever is pressed, a food pellet drops through a thin tube.• Also send in any records of mole remains in owl pellets or the diets of other predators.• The containers are made of peat and wood fiber laced with soluble fertilizer and peat pellets that expand when watered.• Doctors feared an air rifle pellet had pierced his brain when the joke went horribly wrong.• Jack took my fingers and ran them over the back of his head where he said there were still some shotgun pellets.• Jack took pellets in the right lung, liver, and back, and his left arm was again badly fractured.Origin pellet (1300-1400) French pelote, from Latin pila “ball” 