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Definition of Pecked - 3 dictionary results

peck

2  [pek]
Use Pecked in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to strike or indent with the beak, as a bird does, or with some pointed instrument, esp. with quick, repeated movements.
2. to make (a hole, puncture, etc.) by such strokes; pierce.
3. to take (food) bit by bit, with or as with the beak.
–verb (used without object)
4. to make strokes with the beak or a pointed instrument.
–noun
5. a quick stroke, as in pecking.
6. a hole or mark made by or as by pecking.
7. a quick, almost impersonal kiss: a peck on the cheek.
8. (in timber) incipient decay from fungi, occurring in isolated spots.
9. pecks. Also, peckings. Slang. food.
—Verb phrase
10. peck at,
a. to nibble indifferently or unenthusiastically at (food).
b. to nag or carp at: Stop pecking at me, I'm doing the best I can.
Origin:
1300–50; ME pecke < MD pecken; akin to pick 1

Synonyms:
10a. pick at, poke at.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Pecked
peck 1   (pěk)   
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.

  2. Informal A light quick kiss.


[Middle English pecken, probably variant of piken, to peck (perhaps influenced by Middle Low German pekken); see pick1.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

peck  (v.)
c.1300, possibly a variant of picken (see pick (v.)), or in part from M.L.G. pekken "to peck with the beak." Pecker "one who pecks" is from 1697; slang sense of "penis" is from 1902. Peckerwood (1859) is U.S. Southern black dialectal inversion of woodpecker (q.v.); in folklore, taken as the type of white folks (1929) and symbolically contrasted with blackbird. As a behavior among hens, pecking order (1928) translates Ger. hackliste (T.J. Schjelderuo-Ebbe, 1922); transf. sense of "human hierarchy based on rank or status" is from 1955.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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