▪ I. peek, n.1
(piːk)
Also peak.
[f. peek v.1]
1. a. A peep, a glance, a ‘keek’.
| 1844 ‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. II. 41, I jest give a peak in for a minit, and streaked it upstairs. 1869 L. M. Alcott Little Women II. xx. 300 ‘Ain't it a sight to see her settin' there,’..muttered old Hannah, who could not resist frequent ‘peeks’ through the slide. 1884 Roe Nat. Ser. Story vi, Their father gave them a peek into the..brooding-room. 1893 F. Adams New Egypt 54 Eyelid-closing indolence, varied by sudden peaks of wide-staring alertness. 1938 E. Ambler Cause for Alarm vii. 116 Supposing you take an occasional peek at these other guys' hands, tell me what you see. 1969 Daily Mail 16 Jan. 5/1 After insertion into Earth orbit I had a lot of tests to perform on the spacecraft systems but, like all the rookies before me, I must confess to a sneak peek out of the window. 1973 P. Evans Bodyguard Man 10, I poked my head out and took a peek. 1974 Black World Sept. 40 When you get inside cock your eyes ace-deuce and snatch a peek around. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 24 Jan. 19/2 He was to proceed to Cairo, take a peek at Mecca, and head west across the bulge of Africa until he either sighted the Niger or fell into it. |
b. Comb., as peek-hole, a peep-hole.
| 1910 ‘Mark Twain’ Speeches 222, I peeked through the little peek-holes they have in theatre curtains. 1927 G. Ade et al. Let. 4 Mar. (1973) 117 Gibraltar..is honeycombed with tunnels, which the visitor is not permitted to see, and from those tunnels there are peek-holes out of which guns can be pointed in any direction. 1927 Sat. Even. Post 24 Dec. 12/2 That's Fred's peek-hole, where he sees out of. 1930 E. Pound XXX Cantos xvii. 79 One eye for the sea, for that peek-hole. |
2. Computing. (Usu. written PEEK.) A statement or function in BASIC allowing one to read the contents of the memory location whose address is specified. Cf. peek v.1 2 and poke n.3 1 f.
| 1978 Waite & Pardee BASIC Primer v. 159 PEEK and POKE (EXAM and FILL in some BASICS) allow direct control over individual memory locations. 1982 Stewart & Jones Peek, Poke, Byte & Ram! 77 We can find out exactly which bytes are stored in which addresses in the ROM and RAM by using PEEK. 1983 R. Haskell Atari BASIC xiv. 129/2 Try printing some value of PEEK to see what you get. 1985 Personal Computer World Feb. 143 (Advt.), Built in Atari Basic programming language supporting peek, poke and USR plus at least 8 other languages available. |
▪ II. peek, n.2
(piːk)
[f. peek v.2]
The shrill note or pipe of a small bird.
| 1834 Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 291 The birds [meadow⁓pipits]..continue uttering their feeble and complaining peek. |
▪ III. peek, v.1
(piːk)
Forms: 4–5 pike, pyke, 6–7 peke, 6 peake, peeke, 7– peak, peek, (9 dial. pick).
[In ME. pike, pyke: origin obscure.
The verbs keek, peek, and peep are app. closely allied to each other. Kike and pike, as earlier forms of keek and peek, occur in Chaucer; pepe, peep is of later appearance (15th c.). Kike, keek, has Teutonic cognates (see keek) which are wanting for peek and peep; whether the latter have in some way arisen out of keek, or are distinct in origin, is unknown. Quot. 1530 gives a F. piper = peke; but this sense of piper has been found nowhere else, and is app. an error of Palsgrave. The phonetic relations between the forms pike, peek, peak, are as yet unexplained.]
1. intr. To look through a crevice, or out of or into a recess, etc.; to peer, peep, pry, look in, or out. Also, to glance at.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 11 (60) And Pandarus..Come nere, and gan yn at þe curtyn pike [Campsall MS. pyke], And seid God do bote on al syke! 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 667 Why, can ye not put out that foule freke? No, in euery corner he wyll peke. 1530 Palsgr. 655/2, I peke or prie, je pipe hors. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 68 That one eye winks, as though it were but blynd, That other pries and peekes in euery place. 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. vi. in Holinshed VI. 50 If he once but frowne at them, they dare not be so hardie as once to peake out of their cabbins. 1632 Heywood 1st Pt. Iron Age iii. i. Wks. 1874 III. 312 We shall haue him..come peaking into the Tents of the Greeks. 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 39 (1713) I. 255 As like one of your Smithfield Lions, as ever he can peke out of his Nyes. 1739 ‘R. Bull’ tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus i. iv. 36 He [Crocodile] gapes: the wing'd Inhabitant of air Does to his mouth in hopes of prey repair, In ev'ry hollow Tooth securely peak, And pick from thence th'Incumbrance with his Beak. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. ii. (1859) 18 You see a feller peekin' out. 1886 Morse Jap. Homes vii. 317, I was guilty of the impertinence of peeking into the cupboards. 1893 Field 27 May 770/3 Salmon were reported as showing, or rather ‘picking’, to use the local phrase. 1928 Publishers' Weekly 22 Sept. 1120/1 One cannot escape the temptation to peek at prices however and I found one marked six shillings and took it. 1947 Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) ii. 38 Pushing through brambles, I peeked out at Her fascination. 1953 Manch. Guardian Weekly 29 Jan. 4 A coloured butler peeked out of a cream-coloured door. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 21/7 Jerry Tighe, of Whitworth College in Spokane, came close to a fall in the men's two miles when he peeked over his shoulder to check the field. 1973 ‘S. Harvester’ Corner of Playground iii. i. 165 Are you so bored with me you must peek at other men? 1973 Black World June 10/2 The vain Southern belle who undresses in front of the stable boy and then tells her ‘Daddy’ that he peeked. |
2. Computing. (Usu. written PEEK.) intr. and trans. To use PEEK to ascertain the contents of (a memory or memory location). Cf. peek n.1 2. Const. as in sense 1, also to.
| 1978 Waite & Pardee BASIC Primer v. 161 The variable X is set to the value found in memory location A by PEEKing at A. Ibid. 163 The action of PEEKing or POKEing to the location containing the speaker causes the cone to move. 1981 D. Inman et al. More TRS-80 BASIC ii. 20 Since you know the program is stored in RAM starting at memory location 17129, you can PEEK into that area of memory after you have entered your program. 1982 Stewart & Jones Peek, Poke, Byte & Ram! 78 There are certainly some good reasons for PEEKing the ROM—you can find out how the ZX81 tells the TV to PRINT a particular character. 1983 Austral. Microcomputer Mag. Sept. 62/1 The home user who wants to make use of the computer should be able to without peeking and poking. |
Hence ˈpeeking ppl. a. and vbl. n.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Peeking Fellow, a meer Sneaks, one that peeps in every Hole and Corner. 1855 Worcester Transcript Apr. (Bartlett), The members..behaved in such an undignified, ludicrous, peeking, bombastical manner, that they obtained the appellation of the ‘smelling committee’. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed vii. 49 When I went in [to jail] they didn't even ask for peekings. 1973 Radio Times 20 Dec. 100/4 What's he getting for Christmas?.. ‘Absolutely no peeking before Christmas morning.’ 1976 D. Heffron Crusty Crossed ix. 71 ‘It's time you learned the difference,’ she called out after me, ‘between high-class spying and low-down peeking.’ |
▪ IV. peek, v.2 dial.
(piːk)
Also peak.
[? Echoic.]
intr. To speak in a thin piping voice; to peep, squeak; to utter the slightest sound.
| 1808–25 Jamieson, To peak, peek, to peep, to speak with a small voice resembling that of a chicken. 1810 J. Cock Strains II. 135 (E.D.D.), I winna hear my frien's misca't, Sae dinna ment to peak. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss., Peak,..to cry like a young bird; squeak like a young mouse, etc. |
▪ V. peek
obs. form of peak, pique.