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Peck vs Nibble - What's the difference?

peck | nibble |

In transitive terms the difference between peck and nibble

is that peck is to form by striking with the beak or a pointed instrument while nibble is to bite lightly.

As verbs the difference between peck and nibble

is that peck is to strike or pierce with the beak or bill (of a bird) or similar instrument while nibble is to eat with small, quick bites.

As nouns the difference between peck and nibble

is that peck is an act of pecking while nibble is a small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.

As a proper noun Peck

is {{surname|lang=en}.

peck

English

(wikipedia peck)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) pecken, pekken, variant of (etyl) picken, . More at pick.

Verb

(en verb)
  • To strike or pierce with the beak or bill (of a bird) or similar instrument.
    • The birds pecked at their food.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) , Chapter 2
    • The rooster had been known to fly on her shoulder and peck her neck, so that now she carried a stick or took one of the children with her when she went to feed the fowls.
  • To form by striking with the beak or a pointed instrument.
    • to peck a hole in a tree
  • To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument, especially with repeated quick movements.
  • To seize and pick up with the beak, or as if with the beak; to bite; to eat; often with up .
    • (Addison)
  • * Shakespeare
    • This fellow pecks up wit as pigeons peas.
  • To do something in small, intermittent pieces.
    • He has been pecking away at that project for some time now.
  • To type by searching for each key individually.
  • (rare) To type in general.
  • To kiss briefly.
  • * 1997 , , (w, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) , Chapter 1; 1998 ed., Scholastic Press, ISBN 0-590-35340-3, p. 2
    • At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.
    Derived terms
    * pecking order * peckish * woodpecker

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of pecking.
  • A small kiss.

    • Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) (pek), (pekke), of uncertain origin.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One quarter of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts.
    • They picked a peck of wheat.
  • A great deal; a large or excessive quantity.
    • She figured most children probably ate a peck of dirt before they turned ten.
  • * Milton
    • a peck of uncertainties and doubts

    Etymology 3

    Variant of .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (regional) To throw.
  • To lurch forward; especially, of a horse, to stumble after hitting the ground with the toe instead of teh flat of the foot.
  • * 1928 , (Siegfried Sassoon), Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man , Penguin 2013, p. 97:
    • Anyhow, one of them fell, another one pecked badly, and Jerry disengaged himself from the group to scuttle up the short strip of meadow to win by a length.

    Etymology 4

    Noun

    (-)
  • Discoloration caused by fungus growth or insects.
    • an occurrence of peck in rice
    Derived terms
    * pecky

    Etymology 5

    Noun

    (en noun)
    • English transitive verbs

    nibble

    English

    Etymology 1

    Perhaps from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.
  • (in the plural, nibbles) Small snacks such as crisps/potato chips or nuts, often eaten to accompany drinks.
    • Derived terms
    * nibbly

    Verb

    (nibbl)
  • To eat with small, quick bites.
    • The rabbit nibbled the lettuce.
  • * 2 November 2014 , Alex James in (The Guardian), The day I came face-to-face with a tiger
  • *:Giant parrots nibbled seed from the children's fingertips and my sister peeled a couple of satsumas for the lemurs.
  • * 1911 , (Rudyard Kipling), Big Steamers
  • *:"For the bread that you eat and the biscuits you nibble ,
  • *:The sweets that you suck and the joints that you carve,
  • *:They are brought to you daily by all us Big Steamers--
  • *:And if anyone hinders our coming you'll starve!"
  • To bite lightly.
    • He nibbled at my neck and made me shiver.
  • To consume gradually.
  • * 11 May 2011 , Ann Carrns in The (New York Times), Prepaid Cards Subject Jobless to Host of Fees
  • *:A report out this week from the National Consumer Law Center lays out a host of ways in which banks nibble away at jobless benefits with fees the center called “junk.”

    • Etymology 2

    From nibble', punning on the homophony of '''byte''' and ' bite

    Alternative forms

    * nybble

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing) A unit of memory equal to half a byte, or four bits.http://foldoc.org/nibble
  • * 1993 , Richard E. Haskell, Introduction to computer engineering (page 287)
    • That is, the lower nibble (the 4 bits 1010 = A) has been masked to zero.

    References