peep
UK/piːp//pip/
peep noun: a feeble utterance or complaint. Also the alternative letter-case form of Peep.
Noun (1)
peep (plural peeps)
- A feeble utterance or complaint.
- I don't want to hear a peep out of you!
- A brood of chicks (young chickens).
- Two big canopy beds packed with kilims and cushions in the corner of the hut are lit warmly in the glow of the paraffin lanterns as a peep of chicks run inside, quite bravely I think, since their elder relative just got the chop.2025, Roxana Shirazi, Dead Iranian Girl, Rare Bird Books
- A peep of chicks feed in their cage at Oesterlings Lawn & Garden Thursday, April 14, 2022. Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle2022 April 15, “Photo Gallery: April 15, 2022”, in Butler Eagle, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2026
- The sound of a steam engine's whistle; typically shrill.
- With a "peep" from a high-pitched whistle, the train would leave by the crossover to the down line, […].1954 March, W. A. Tuplin, “Recollections of the Wirral Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 168
- "Peep, peep," said Edward, "I'm ready."
- "Peep, peep, peep," said Henry, "so am I."2001, Rev. W. Awdry, Thomas the tank engine collection : a unique collection of stories from the railway series - p. 177 - Egmont Books, Limited, Aug 15, 2001
- A sandpiper or other small wader.
- When I spotted two small warm-brown scaley-plumaged ‘peeps’ with yellow legs, my commentary immediately identified them as Least Sandpipers.1983, Bill Oddie, Gone Birding, London: Methuen, page 91
Verb (1)
peep (third-person singular simple present peeps, present participle peeping, simple past and past participle peeped)
Verb (2)
peep (third-person singular simple present peeps, present participle peeping, simple past and past participle peeped)
- To look forth from concealment, especially through a narrow opening, or while trying not to be seen or noticed.
- The man peeped through the small hole.
- And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- keek
- To begin to appear; to make the first appearance.
- When flowers first peeped, and trees did blossoms bear.1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number)
- They first caught crabs and quohogs in the sand; grown bolder, they waded out with nets for mackerel; more experienced, they pushed off in boats and captured cod; and at last, launching a navy of great ships on the sea, explored this watery world; put an incessant belt of circumnavigations round...1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 14, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 70
- To take a look at; check out.
- Did you peep that video I sent you?
- Peep me, I'm fabulous, I work with the hardest working women at Kay Jeweler's, selling the finest jewels to the richest people.2019 December, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 96
- To see, uncover.
- A lot of females were hesitant about getting with Pimp. He had a hard edge to him that made it impossible not to peep his cruel nature.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 58
Noun (2)
peep (plural peeps)
- A quick look or glimpse, especially a furtive one.
- So saying she loosened some ivory screws of the guitar, so as to open a peep lengthwise through its interior.1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities
- I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside. / I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked"; […] then the door I opened wide.1907, Robert W. Service, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, in The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses
- The first partial appearance of something; a beginning to appear.
- the peep of day
- A peepshow.
- A boring lusterless attempt at pornography, a niche above the racks of pulp pocketbooks sold in the front room of peeps.1981 December 1, Freddie Greenfield, “Insulting Prison Porn”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 11
Noun (3)
peep (plural peeps)
Noun (4)
peep (plural peeps)
- A person.
Noun (5) capitalized: PEEP
PEEP
- A World War II jeep attached to an armored regiment.
- Acronym of positive end-expiratory pressure.
Noun (6) capitalized: Peep
Peep (plural Peeps)
- A soft marshmallow confection, shaped into a baby animal for Easter celebration.
Also used as
peep is also the alternative letter-case form of Peep.
Examples of peep in a sentence
- The mean weight of a peep of chicks is 1.3 pounds, with a standard deviation of 0.4 pounds.2019 June 23, melaniemessiha, Brainly, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2026:
- "I think," he said, "we had better take a peep upstairs now and see where we are.1970, Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 30:
- This toy in 1959 was a peep into the past, for wheeled barrows such as this one, had not been in use for a number of years.1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 84:
- He did manage a brief peep at the building’s Rotunda as he called on members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in July.1990 October 5, “Souter plans to get right down to work”, in Fort Worth Star-Telegram, volume 85, number 154, section 1, page 14:
Synonyms of peep
Forms of peep
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | peeps |
| plural | Peeps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | peeps |
| present participle | peeping |
| past participle | peeped |
| past | peeped |
Origin of peep
From Middle English pepen. Compare Dutch piepen (“peep”), German Low German piepen (“to peep”), German piepen and pfeifen, all probably onomatopoeic.
From Middle English pepen, variant of piken.
Uncertain; perhaps variant of pip.
Words formed from peep
Phrases with peep
Words that rhyme with peep
Questions about peep
- What does peep mean?
- Peep means a feeble utterance or complaint.
- How do you use peep in a sentence?
- The mean weight of a peep of chicks is 1.3 pounds, with a standard deviation of 0.4 pounds.
- What part of speech is peep?
- Peep can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce peep?
- Peep is pronounced /piːp/ (UK).
- What is the plural of peep?
- The plural of peep is peeps.
Words near peep in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: peep (page history and authors); PEEP (page history and authors); Peep (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-peep.ogg.
Cite this entry: “peep.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/peep. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.