peck

verb

1. 1

   To strike or pierce with the beak or bill (of a bird).

   The birds pecked at their food.

   The rooster had been known to fly on her shoulder and peck her neck, so that now she carried a stick or took one of the children with her when she went to feed the fowls.

   And the Wicked Witch said to the King Crow, "Fly at once to the strangers; peck out their eyes and tear them to pieces."

2. 2

   To form by striking with the beak or a pointed instrument.

   to peck a hole in a tree

3. 3

   To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument, especially with repeated quick movements.

4. 4

   To seize and pick up with the beak, or as if with the beak; to bite; to eat; often with up.

   This fellow pecks up wit as pigeons peas.

   1713 September 14, letter to Joseph Addison, The Guardian, issue 160. I HAVE laid a wager, with a friend of mine, about the pigeons that used to peck up the corn which belonged to the ants.

   Occasionally a little band of exploring children with the fictitious optimism of youth pecked among its rank and tangled growth in the affectation of hoping to find blackberries there; […]

5. 5

   To do something in small, intermittent pieces.

   He has been pecking away at that project for some time now.

6. 6

   To type by searching for each key individually.

7. 7

   rareTo type in general.

8. 8

   To kiss briefly.

   At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.

noun

1. 1

   An act of striking with a beak.

2. 2

   A small kiss.

noun

1. 1

   One quarter of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; equal to approximately 9092 cubic centimeters in the imperial system or 8810 cubic centimeters in the U.S. system.

   Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

   22,110 bushels of French beans, at 6d. per peck, or 2s. per bushel

   I took his advice, and went to Billingsgate for the first time in my life, and bought a peck of oysters for 2s. 6d.

2. 2

   Similar units in other systems of measure, such as the Roman modius or Chinese dou.

3. 3

   A great deal; a large or excessive quantity.

   She figured most children probably ate a peck of dirt before they turned ten.

   a peck of uncertainties and doubts

verb

1. 1

   To throw.

2. 2

   To lurch forward; especially, of a horse, to stumble after hitting the ground with the toe instead of the flat of the foot.

   Anyhow, one of them fell, another one pecked badly, and Jerry disengaged himself from the group to scuttle up the short strip of meadow to win by a length.

noun

1. 1

   Discoloration caused by fungus growth or insects.

   an occurrence of peck in rice

noun

1. 1

   obsoleteFood.

   Gemmen, have you ordered the peck and booze for the evening?

noun

1. 1

   Variant of pecMisspelling of pec.

Forms

plural

pecks

past tense

pecked

past participle

pecked

present participle

pecking

third person singular

pecks