Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

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.

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.

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.

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

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.