peep
pronunciation
How to pronounce peep in British English:
UK [piːp]
How to pronounce peep in American English:
US [piːp]
-
- Noun:
- the short weak cry of a young bird
- a secret look
-
- Verb:
- look furtively
- cause to appear
- make high-pitched sounds; of birds
- speak in a hesitant and high-pitched tone of voice
- appear as though from hiding
Word Origin
- peep (v.1)
- "glance" (especially through a small opening), mid-15c., perhaps alteration of Middle English piken (see peek (v.)). Peeping Tom "a curious prying fellow" [Grose] is from 1796 (see Godiva).
- peep (v.2)
- "make a short chirp," c. 1400, probably altered from pipen (mid-13c.), ultimately imitative (compare Latin pipare, French pepier, German piepen, Lithuanian pypti, Czech pipati, Greek pipos).
- peep (n.2)
- "short chirp," early 15c., from peep (v.2); meaning "slightest sound or utterance" (usually in a negative context) is attested from 1903. Meaning "young chicken" is from 1680s. The marshmallow peeps confection are said to date from 1950s.
- peep (n.1)
- 1520s, first in sense found in peep of day, from peep (v.1); meaning "a furtive glance" is first recorded 1730.
Example
- 1. Eg. he squatted down to peep into the basket .
- 2. If you find me scrawling on a piece of paper , please don 't peep over my shoulders .
- 3. Months went by without a peep from the fbi surveillance teams that had been tracking her in undercover vehicles and helicopters .
- 4. Allowing boys and girls to peep into each other 's bathroom to understand gender roles seems to be the new chinese way to teach sex education in school .
- 5. Come , thick night , pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell that my keen knife see not the wound it makes , not heaven peep through the blanket of the dark , to cry , | hold , hold .