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Peck definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PECK, n.
1. The fourth part of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; as a peck of wheat or oats.
2. In low language, a great deal; as, to be in a peck of troubles.
PECK, v.t.
1. To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into, as a bird that pecks a hole in a tree.
2. To strike with a pointed instrument, or to delve or dig with any thing pointed, as with a pick-ax.
3. To pick up food with the beak.
4. To strike with small and repeated blows; to strike in manner to make small impressions. In this sense,the verb is generally intransitive. We say, to peck at.]
[This verb and pick are radically the same.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must have cost plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of money" [syn: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad]
2: a British imperial capacity measure (liquid or dry) equal to 2 gallons
3: a United States dry measure equal to 8 quarts or 537.605 cubic inches v
1: hit lightly with a picking motion [syn: peck, pick, beak]
2: eat by pecking at, like a bird [syn: peck, pick up]
3: kiss lightly [syn: smack, peck]
4: eat like a bird; "The anorexic girl just picks at her food" [syn: pick at, peck at, peck]
5: bother persistently with trivial complaints; "She nags her husband all day long" [syn: nag, peck, hen-peck]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English pek, from Anglo-French Date: 13th century 1. — see weight table 2. a large quantity or number II. verb Etymology: Middle English, perhaps from Middle Low German pekken Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to strike or pierce especially repeatedly with the bill or a pointed tool b. to make by pecking <peck a hole> 2. to pick up with the bill intransitive verb 1. a. to strike, pierce, or pick up something with or as if with the bill b. carp, nag 2. to eat reluctantly and in small bites <peck at food> III. noun Date: circa 1591 1. an impression or hole made by pecking 2. a quick sharp stroke 3. a quick light kiss <a peck on the cheek>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v. & n. --v.tr. 1 strike or bite (something) with a beak. 2 kiss (esp. a person's cheek) hastily or perfunctorily. 3 a make (a hole) by pecking. b (foll. by out, off) remove or pluck out by pecking. 4 colloq. (also absol.) eat (food) listlessly; nibble at. 5 mark with short strokes. 6 (usu. foll. by up, down) break with a pick etc. --n. 1 a a stroke or bite with a beak. b a mark made by this. 2 a hasty or perfunctory kiss. 3 sl. food. Phrases and idioms: peck at 1 eat (food) listlessly; nibble. 2 carp at; nag. 3 strike (a thing) repeatedly with a beak. pecking (or peck) order a social hierarchy, orig. as observed among hens. Etymology: ME prob. f. MLG pekken, of unkn. orig. 2. n. 1 a measure of capacity for dry goods, equal to 2 gallons or 8 quarts. 2 a vessel used to contain this amount. Phrases and idioms: a peck of a large number or amount of (troubles, dirt, etc.). Etymology: ME f. AF pek, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peck Peck, n. A quick, sharp stroke, as with the beak of a bird or a pointed instrument.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peck Peck, n. [Perh. akin to pack; or, orig., an indefinite quantity, and fr. peck, v. (below): cf. also F. picotin a peak.] 1. The fourth part of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; as, a peck of wheat. ``A peck of provender.'' --Shak. 2. A great deal; a large or excessive quantity. ``A peck of uncertainties and doubts.'' --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peck Peck, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pecked; p. pr. & vb. n. Pecking.] [See Pick, v.] 1. To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into; as, a bird pecks a tree. 2. Hence: To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument; especially, to strike, pick, etc., with repeated quick movements. 3. To seize and pick up with the beak, or as with the beak; to bite; to eat; -- often with up. --Addison. This fellow pecks up wit as pigeons peas. --Shak. 4. To make, by striking with the beak or a pointed instrument; as, to peck a hole in a tree.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Peck Peck, v. i. 1. To make strokes with the beak, or with a pointed instrument. --Carew. 2. To pick up food with the beak; hence, to eat. [The hen] went pecking by his side. --Dryden. To peck at, to attack with petty and repeated blows; to carp at; to nag; to tease.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pecks, pecking, pecked) 1. If a bird pecks at something or pecks something, it moves its beak forward quickly and bites at it. It was winter and the sparrows were pecking at whatever they could find... Chickens pecked in the dust... It pecked his leg... They turn on their own kind and peck each other to death... These birds peck off all the red flowers. VERB: V at n, V prep/adv, V n, V n prep, V n with adv 2. If you peck someone on the cheek, you give them a quick, light kiss. Elizabeth walked up to him and pecked him on the cheek... She pecked his cheek. VERB: V n on n, V n • Peck is also a noun. He gave me a little peck on the cheek. N-COUNT: usu a N

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Victuals. Peck and booze; victuals and drink.

Moby Thesaurus

abundance, acres, bags, barrel, barrels, batch, beak, brush, bug, bunt, bushel, buss, carp at, chuck, considerable, copiousness, countlessness, dab, deal, fillip, flick, flip, flirt, flood, fret at, fuss at, gobs, good deal, graze, great deal, hassle, heap, heaps, henpeck, lashings, lip, load, loads, lot, lots, lump, mass, mess, mint, mountain, much, multitude, nag, nibble, nibble at, niggle, nosh, numerousness, ocean, oceans, oodles, osculate, pack, pat, peck at, pester, pick, pick at, pick on, pile, piles, plenitude, plenty, pot, power, profusion, quantities, quantity, quite a little, raft, rafts, rap, scads, sea, sight, slew, slews, smack, smooch, snack, snap, spate, stack, stacks, superabundance, superfluity, tap, tickle, tidy sum, tip, tons, touch, volume, wad, wads, whisk, whole slew, world, worlds, yap at