peep Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the short weak cry of a young bird
    cheep.
  2. noun a secret look
    peek.
  3. verb look furtively
    • He peeped at the woman through the window
  4. verb cause to appear
    • he peeped his head through the window
  5. verb make high-pitched sounds
    cheep; chirp; chirrup.
    • the birds were chirping in the bushes
  6. verb speak in a hesitant and high-pitched tone of voice
  7. verb appear as though from hiding
    • the new moon peeped through the tree tops

WordNet

Peep intransitive verb
Etymology
Of imitative origin; cf. OE. pipen, F. piper, pépier, L. pipire, pipare, pipiare, D. & G. piepen. Senses 2 and 3 perhaps come from a transfer of sense from the sound which chickens make upon the first breaking of the shell to the act accompanying it; or perhaps from the influence of peek, or peak. Cf. Pipe.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Peeped ; present participle & verbal noun Peeping
Definitions
  1. To cry, as a chicken hatching or newly hatched; to chirp; to cheep.
    There was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Is. x. 14.
  2. To begin to appear; to look forth from concealment; to make the first appearance.
    When flowers first peeped, and trees did blossoms bear. Dryden.
  3. To look cautiously or slyly; to peer, as through a crevice; to pry.
    eep through the blanket of the dark. Shak.
    From her cabined loophole peep. Milton.
Peep noun
Definitions
  1. The cry of a young chicken; a chirp.
  2. First outlook or appearance.
    Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn. Gray.
  3. A sly look; a look as through a crevice, or from a place of concealment.
    To take t' other peep at the stars. Swift.
  4. (Zoöl.) (a) Any small sandpiper, as the least sandpiper (Trigna minutilla). (b) The European meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis).

Webster 1913