Dictionary Definition
peck
Noun
1 (often followed by `of') a large number or
amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot
of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must have cost
plenty" [syn: batch,
deal, flock, good deal,
great
deal, hatful,
heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, muckle, pile, plenty, pot, quite a
little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum,
wad, whole lot,
whole
slew]
2 a British imperial capacity measure (liquid or
dry) equal to 2 gallons
3 a United States dry measure equal to 8 quarts
or 537.605 cubic inches
Verb
2 eat by pecking at, like a bird [syn: pick up]
3 kiss lightly [syn: smack]
5 bother persistently with trivial complaints;
"She nags her husband all day long" [syn: nag, hen-peck]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -ɛk
Noun
Translations
One quarter of a bushel; a dry measure of eight
quarts
- Finnish: peck
A great deal; a large or excessive quantity
- Finnish: kasapäin
Verb
Translations
To strike or pierce with the beak or bill (of a
bird) or similar instrument
- Finnish: nokkia
To do something in small, intermittent
pieces
To type
- [Armenian]]: պաչիկ
Derived terms
Extensive Definition
A peck is an imperial
and
U.S. customary unit of dry volume,
equivalent in each of these systems to 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.
Expressions
The peck occurs in the song A Bushel and a Peck and in such phrases as "you will eat a peck of dirt before you die" or "I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck." or "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers".peck in German: Peck
peck in Esperanto: Buŝelo
peck in Japanese: ペック
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abundance, acres, bags, barrel, barrels, batch, beak, brush, bug, bunt, bushel, buss, carp at, chuck, considerable, copiousness, countlessness, dab, deal, fillip, flick, flip, flirt, flood, fret at, fuss at, gobs, good deal, graze, great deal, hassle, heap, heaps, henpeck, lashings, lip, load, loads, lot, lots, lump, mass, mess, mint, mountain, much, multitude, nag, nibble, nibble at, niggle, nosh, numerousness, ocean, oceans, oodles, osculate, pack, pat, peck at, pester, pick, pick at, pick on, pile, piles, plenitude, plenty, pot, power, profusion, quantities, quantity, quite a little,
raft, rafts, rap, scads, sea, sight, slew, slews, smack, smooch, snack, snap, spate, stack, stacks, superabundance, superfluity, tap, tickle, tidy sum, tip, tons, touch, volume, wad, wads, whisk, whole slew, world, worlds, yap at