peck
/pɛk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.46 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument, especially with repeated quick movements.
verb
To do something in small, intermittent pieces.
verb
To type by searching for each key individually.
verb
To type in general.
Example Sentences
- "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.""
- "to peck a hole in a tree"
- "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."
Etymology
From Middle English pecken, pekken, variant of Middle English piken, picken, pikken (“to pick, use a pointed implement”). More at pick.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: pecken, piken, pek, -
Usage
- Transitive verb
- Uncountable
- British usage
- Obsolete
- Slang