PECK, noun 1. The fourth part of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; as a peck of wheat or oats. 2. In low language, a great deal; as, to be in a peck of troubles. PECK, verb transitive 1. To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into, as a bird that pecks a hole in a tree. 2. To strike with a pointed instrument, or to delve or dig with any thing pointed, as with a pick-ax. 3. To pick up food with the beak. 4. To strike with small and repeated blows; to strike in manner to make small impressions. In this sense, the verb is generally intransitive. We say, to peck at.] [This verb and pick are radically the same.]
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI