rind

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A tough outer covering such as bark, the skin of some fruits, or the coating on cheese or bacon.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A thick and firm outer coat or covering, as of animals, plants, fruits, cheeses, etc.; a thick skin or integument; specifically, in botany, same as cortex: applied to the outer layer or layers of a fungus-body, to the cortical layer (see cortical) of a lichen, as well as to the bark of trees.
• noun The skin of a whale; whale-rind: a whalers' term.
• noun Edge; border.
• noun Synonyms Peel, etc. See skin.
• To take the rind from; bark; decorticate.
• noun See rynd.
• noun A strip of cloth placed under the leather on the handle of a golf-club to thicken the grip.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The external covering or coat, as of flesh, fruit, trees, etc.; skin; hide; bark; peel; shell.
• transitive verb rare To remove the rind of; to bark.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun tree bark
• noun A hard, tough outer layer, particularly on food such as fruit, cheese, etc
• noun figuratively, uncountable, rare The gall, the crust, the insolence; often as "the immortal rind"
• verb transitive To remove the rind from.
• noun An iron support fitting used on the upper millstone of a grist mill

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the natural outer covering of food (usually removed before eating)