peck

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(pĕk) pronunciation

v., pecked, peck·ing, pecks.

v.tr.
  1. To strike with the beak or a pointed instrument.
  2. To make (a hole, for example) by striking repeatedly with the beak or a pointed instrument.
  3. To grasp and pick up with the beak: The bird pecked insects from the log.
  4. Informal. To kiss briefly and casually.
v.intr.
  1. To make strokes with the beak or a pointed instrument.
  2. To eat in small sparing bits; nibble: He pecked at his dinner.
  3. To criticize repeatedly; carp.
n.
    1. A stroke or light blow with the beak or a pointed instrument.
    2. A mark or hole made by such a stroke.
  1. Informal. A light quick kiss.

[Middle English pecken, probably variant of piken, to peck (perhaps influenced by Middle Low German pekken). See pick1.]


peck2 (pĕk) pronunciation
n.
  1. (Abbr. pk.)
    1. A unit of dry volume or capacity in the U.S. Customary System equal to 8 quarts or approximately 537.6 cubic inches.
    2. A unit of dry volume or capacity in the British Imperial System equal to 8 quarts or approximately 554.8 cubic inches.
  2. A container holding or measuring a peck.
  3. Informal. A large quantity; a lot: a peck of troubles.

[Middle English.]


volume. Symbol pk. British/American ¼ bushel.

BI Primarily for dry goods, 2 BI gallon (9.092 2~ L). The peck was removed from official UK measures in 1970.The UK Weights and Measures Act 1985 explicitly excluded from use for trade the bushell, cental, chain, drachm, dram, fluid drachm, furlong, grain, hundredweight, ounce apoth., peck, pennyweight, quarter, quintal, rood, scruple, stone, ton, the square mile, cubic inch, cubic foot, cubic yard, and the term ‘metric ton’. However, the legal status of the bushell, fluid drachm, and peck had been repealed, along with all apothecaries' units and troy units other than ounce, by Order in 1970. Besides the remaining BI units and the simple SI units, the Act included the kilometre, decimetre, centimetre and millimetre, the square metre, square decimetre, square centimetre and square millimetre, the hectare and decare along with the are, the cubic metre, cubic decimetre and cubic centimetre, the hectolitre decilitre, centilitre and millilitre, the tonne (or ‘metric tonne’), kilogram, hectogram, milligram and carat (metric). All had been included in the similar Act of 1963, but with some variation of name: -gram was -gramme, decare was dekare, the tonne appeared only as metric ton.

US-C dry Solely for dry goods, ¼ US bushel (8.809 8~ L).

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also peck at

verb

    To touch or caress with the lips, especially as a sign of passion or affection: buss, kiss, osculate, smack1. Slang smooch. See touch/not touch.

phrasal verb - peck at

    To scold or find fault with constantly: carp at, fuss at, nag, pick on. Informal henpeck. See praise/blame.

noun

    The act or an instance of kissing: buss, kiss, osculation, smack1, smacker. Slang smooch. See touch/not touch.
peck2

noun

  1. A great deal: abundance, mass, mountain, much, plenty, profusion, wealth, world. Informal barrel, heap, lot, pack, pile. Regional power, sight. See big/small/amount.
  2. An indeterminately great amount or number: jillion, million (often used in plural), multiplicity, ream, trillion. Informal bushel, gob1 (often used in plural), heap (often used in plural), load (often used in plural), lot, oodles, passel, scad (often used in plural), slew, wad, zillion. See big/small/amount.

In timber, decay resulting from fungus in isolated spots.


Unit Conversions:

pecks (US)

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To convert from pecks (US) to:

bushels, multiply by .25.
cubic inches, multiply by 537.605.
liters, multiply by 8.809582.
quarts (dry), multiply by 8.

Convert:  Into: 
Result: 

and pecs; pects n. the pectoral muscles. (From weightlifting and bodybuilding.)  Look at the pecks on that guy!

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A large quantity. Also: a unit of measurement for dry goods such as grains and vegetables. Also: To strike or nip.

pronunciation A man must eat a peck of salt with his friend, before he knows him. — Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616)

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

noun
noun, US, African-American

Abbreviation of peckerwood noun. (1924 —) .
C. Brown A poor white peck will cuss worse'n a nigger (1969).



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Next:peck horn, pecker, peckerhead
Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'peck'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to peck, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Peck.
A 1/2 peck apple bag

A peck is an imperial and U.S. customary unit of dry volume,[1] equivalent to 2 gallons or 8 dry quarts or 16 dry pints. Two pecks make a kenning (obsolete), and four pecks make a bushel.

In Scotland, the peck was used as a dry measure until the introduction of imperial units as a result of the Weights and Measures Act of 1824. The peck was equal to about 9 litres (in the case of certain crops, such as wheat, peas, beans and meal) and about 13 litres (in the case of barley, oats and malt). A firlot was equal to 4 pecks and the peck was equal to 4 lippies or forpets.

Conversions

  • 1 imperial peck equals:
    • 9.092 litres
    • 307.443 U.S. fl oz
    • 320 imperial fl oz (exactly)
  • 1 U.S. dry peck equals:
    • 8.81 litres
    • 297.894 U.S. fl oz
    • 310.061 imperial fl oz
  • 1 U.S. liquid peck equals:
    • 7.5708 litres
    • 256 U.S. fl oz (exactly)
    • 266.456 imperial fl oz

References

  1. ^ "peck". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2011. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/448327/peck. Retrieved 2011-09-29. 

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Dansk (Danish)
1.
v. intr. - hakke
v. tr. - hakke på
n. - hakken

idioms:

  • peck at    hakke på
  • peck out    hakke ud
  • pecking order    hakkeorden

2.
n. - mængde, masse

idioms:

  • a peck of    en masse

Nederlands (Dutch)
pikken, zoentje geven, kusje, pik, voer, peck (inhoudsmaat), een heleboel

Français (French)
1.
v. intr. - picorer, donner des coups de bec contre, (fig) chipoter (de la nourriture)
v. tr. - picorer, donner un coup de bec à (qn, animal), faire ou donner une bise à (qn)
n. - coup de bec, bise

idioms:

  • peck at    picorer, donner des coups de bec contre, (fig) chipoter
  • peck out    arracher à coups de bec
  • pecking order    (lit, fig) ordre hiérarchique

2.
n. - (Mes) picotin, grande quantité

Deutsch (German)
1.
v. - hacken, picken, flüchtig küssen
n. - Küßchen

idioms:

  • peck at    herumstochern
  • peck out    aushacken
  • pecking order    Hackordnung

2.
n. - Viertelscheffel

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ράμφισμα, τσίμπημα, τσιμπολόγημα (φαγητού), (καθομ.) (πεταχτό) φιλάκι, μάκια
v. - ραμφίζω, τσιμπώ, φιλώ (τυπικά ή αδιάφορα)

idioms:

  • a peck of    μπόλικοι
  • peck at    τσιμπολογώ (από), επικρίνω, γκρινιάζω σε
  • peck out    σκαλίζω, ανοίγω τρύπα με το ράμφος
  • pecking order    (κοινωνική) ιεραρχία

Italiano (Italian)
bacetto, beccare

idioms:

  • a peck of    un pezzettino
  • peck at    mangiucchiare
  • peck out    battere a macchina
  • pecking order    gerarchia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - bicada (f), celamim (m), beijinho (m), comida (f) (gír.)
v. - bicar, picar, apanhar com o bico, beijar, beliscar (coloq.)

idioms:

  • a peck of    um pouco de
  • peck at    beliscar
  • peck out    arrancar com o bico
  • pecking order    hierarquia social

Русский (Russian)
клевок, поцелуй, клевать, чмокать

idioms:

  • a peck of    чуть-чуть
  • peck at    клевать
  • peck out    выклевывать
  • pecking order    иерархия

Español (Spanish)
1.
v. intr. - picotear, besar, regañar, censurar
v. tr. - picotear, besar, labrar
n. - picotazo, beso, picadura

idioms:

  • peck at    picotear, picar, comiscar, rezongar, regañar
  • peck out    sacar a picotazos, arrancar con el pico
  • pecking order    la ley del más fuerte, jerarquía

2.
n. - medida de áridos (equivalente a nueve litros), gran cantidad

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - torrmått ca 9000 l, massa, mängd
v. - picka, äta, hacka sönder, hacka på, kyssa lätt

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 啄, 啄穿, 啄食, 啄成, 凿, 琢, 啄起, 连续敲击, 啄痕

idioms:

  • a peck of    很多的, 大量的
  • peck at    啄
  • peck out    啄出, 啄坏
  • pecking order    啄序, 长幼尊卑制度, 权势等级

2. 配克, 众多, 大量, 一配克的容器

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 配克, 眾多, 大量, 一配克的容器

2.
v. tr. - 啄, 啄穿, 啄食, 啄成
v. intr. - 啄, 鑿, 琢, 啄起, 連續敲擊
n. - 啄, 琢, 鑿, 啄痕

idioms:

  • a peck of    很多的, 大量的
  • peck at    啄
  • peck out    啄出, 啄壞
  • pecking order    啄序, 長幼尊卑制度, 權勢等級

한국어 (Korean)
1.
v. intr. - 쪼다, 형식적으로 키스하다, 급히 먹다
v. tr. - (부리로) 쪼다, 급히 (조금씩) 먹다
n. - 쪼기, 쪼아서 판 구멍, 들볶다

idioms:

  • peck at    쪼아먹다
  • peck out    쪼아대다

2.
n. - 펙(8 quarts: (영)약9리터), 몽땅

idioms:

  • a peck of    한 펙의

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - つつくこと, つついてできた穴, 軽いキス, ペック, 多量
v. - つつく, つついてあける, 軽くキスする

idioms:

  • a peck of    数々の
  • peck at    ~をくちばしでつつくちょっと食べる
  • peck out    つついて出す

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) بك : مكيال للحبوب مقداره جالونان أو ربع بوشل, مقدار كبير من القلق والاضطراب, ثقب, قبله سريعه تطبع بغير عاطفه (فعل) ينقر, يثقب, يقبل, يلتقط طعامه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. intr. - ‮הקיש במקורו או בכלי מחודד‬
v. tr. - ‮ניקר, אכל במקורו, חיטט, נשך במקורו, נישק חטופות, הקליד‬
n. - ‮ניקור, נקירה, נשיקה חטופה‬
n. - ‮פק (כשבעה ליטר), כמות גדולה‬


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