(n.) The fourth part of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; as, a peck of wheat.
(n.) A great deal; a large or excessive quantity.
(v.) To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into; as, a bird pecks a tree.
(v.) Hence: To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument; especially, to strike, pick, etc., with repeated quick movements.
(v.) To seize and pick up with the beak, or as with the beak; to bite; to eat; -- often with up.
(v.) To make, by striking with the beak or a pointed instrument; as, to peck a hole in a tree.
(v. i.) To make strokes with the beak, or with a pointed instrument.
(v. i.) To pick up food with the beak; hence, to eat.
(n.) A quick, sharp stroke, as with the beak of a bird or a pointed instrument.
Example Sentences:
(1) The first was a passive avoidance task in which the chicks were allowed to peck at a green training stimulus (a small light-emitting diode, LED) coated in the bitter liquid, methylanthranilate, giving rise to a strong disgust response and consequent avoidance of the green stimulus.
(2) The rate of key pecking in a component was negatively related to the proportion of reinforcers from the alternative (variable-time) source.
(3) No pigeon attacked the target; one pecked the shockplug on its back.
(4) This 'object' function is the summation of the food uptake by one second of pecking and one second of filter feeding.
(5) So strong is this image of Peck that his few honourable attempts at comedy, and his less successful portrayals of the baddie, are often forgotten.
(6) Hens socially dominant in three bird pens had higher liver fat accumulation than hens lower on the peck order but liver fat accumulation for the dominant hens still averaged less than hens housed either two or one per cage.
(7) He tweeted on Wednesday: “I did not pull out of presenting the Rory Peck Awards - they dropped me.” The awards were set up in 1995 in memory of freelance cameraman Rory Peck, who was killed in Moscow in 1993.
(8) Pigeons were trained to peck a key on a multi FR30-FI3' schedule.
(9) Five pigeons pecked for food reinforcers on a concurrent variable-interval one-minute, variable-interval four-minute schedule.
(10) Day-old chicks peck when offered a bright bead; if the bead is coated with the bitter-tasting methylanthranilate (M) they avoid it thereafter.
(11) "You also said we haven't ended up with local radio at the bottom of the pecking order.
(12) The drug initially produced a marked decrease in aggressive behavior but had little or no effect on key pecking.
(13) The results showed that pigeons alternate when frequency-dependent selection is applied to single pecks because alternation is an easy-to-learn stable pattern that satisfies the frequency-dependent condition.
(14) At 6ft 3in tall, the lanky Peck was a pillar of moral rectitude standing up for decency and tolerance.
(15) The effects of three amphetamine analogs were assessed in pigeons key pecking under a multiple 3-min fixed-interval (FI), 30 response fixed-ratio (FR) schedule of food presentation.
(16) Subsequently, over three phases, additions were made during the random-interval 1-minute component as follows: pecks during the component occasionally were punished by timeout presentation (Phase 1), timeouts were presented independently of responding during the component (Phase 2), pecks during the component occasionally were punished by electric-shock presentation (Phase 3).
(17) Trade ministers, much lower down the pecking order, are more sanguine.
(18) Genetic stock by age and beak treatment by age interactions were present for hen-housed production and egg mass, and the interactions appeared to result primarily from increased mortality from cannibalistic pecking with increased age.
(19) In the swinging 1960s, Peck's sober style seemed a little out of place, though he appeared in a couple of flashy Hitchcockian thrillers, Mirage (1965) and Arabesque (1966), and adapted to the new Hollywood as best he could, looking rather bothered as the father of a demon in The Omen (1976).
(20) Pigeons' pecks were conditioned with food reinforcement.
Peckish
Definition:
(a.) Inclined to eat; hungry.
Example Sentences:
(1) Feeling peckish, I ride to the lake’s official and slightly gaudy Strandbad, which is free to get in and has several snack stalls.
(2) Richard Hurst (@richardhursty) I ate three of Howard's hash cakes and still felt peckish.
(3) The fivers have also had to pass health and safety tests, just in case they should fall into the paws of peckish toddlers and pets.
(4) If you get peckish afterwards, go through to the Thai restaurant.
(5) But I like the more day-to-day overstatement – like saying you're starving when really you're just peckish.