Peckとは意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

From Middle English pecken, pekken, variant of Middle English piken, picken, pikken (“to pick, use a pointed implement”). More at pick.

動詞

peck (三人称単数 現在形 pecks, 現在分詞 pecking, 過去形および過去分詞形 pecked)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To strike or pierce with the beak or bill (of a bird).

   The birds pecked at their food.

   • 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, OCLC 19736994; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, OCLC 258624721:

     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.

   • 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M. Hill Co., OCLC 297099816:

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

   to peck a hole in a tree

3. To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument, especially with repeated quick movements.
4. To seize and pick up with the beak, or as if with the beak; to bite; to eat; often with up.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene ii]:

     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.

5. To do something in small, intermittent pieces.

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

6. To type by searching for each key individually.
7. (rare) To type in general.
8. To kiss briefly.
   • 1997 June 26, J. K. Rowling, chapter 1, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter; 1), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     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.

派生語

• peck at
• pecking order
• peckish
• woodpecker

名詞

peck (複数形 pecks)

1. An act of striking with a beak.
2. A small kiss.

語源 2

Probably from Anglo-Norman pek, pekke, of uncertain origin.

名詞

peck (複数形 pecks)

1. One quarter of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts.

   They picked a peck of wheat.

   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Gross Value of the Fruit and Vegetables Sold Annually in the London Streets”, in London Labour and the London Poor:

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

   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Of the Experience of a Fried Fish-seller, and of the Class of Customers”, in London Labour and the London Poor:

     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. A great deal; a large or excessive quantity.

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

   • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], OCLC 868004604, book:

     a peck of uncertainties and doubts