peak

• enPR: pēk, IPA^(key): /piːk/
• Rhymes: -iːk
• Homophones: peek, peke, pique

• Audio (Southern England):

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From earlier peake, peek, peke, from Middle English pek (in place names), itself an alteration of pike, pyke, pyk (“a sharp point, pike”), from Old English pīc, piic (“a pike, needle, pin, peak, pinnacle”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz (“peak”).

Cognate with Dutch piek (“pike, point, summit, peak”), Danish pik (“pike, peak”), Swedish pik (“pike, lance, point, peak”), Norwegian pik (“peak, summit”). More at pike.

peak (plural peaks)

1. A point; the sharp end or top of anything that terminates in a point; as, the peak, or front, of a cap. quotations ▼
   • 2002, Joy of Cooking: All About Cookies, →ISBN, page 29:

     A less risky method is to lift your whisk or beater to check the condition of the peaks of the egg whites; the foam should be just stiff enough to stand up in well-defined, unwavering peaks.

2. The highest value reached by some quantity in a time period. synonyms ▲quotations ▼

   Synonyms: apex, pinnacle; see also Thesaurus:apex

   The stock market reached a peak in September 1929.

   • 2012 October 23, David Leonhardt, New York Times, retrieved 24 October 2012:

     By last year, family income was 8 percent lower than it had been 11 years earlier, at its peak in 2000, according to inflation-adjusted numbers from the Census Bureau.

3. (geography) The top, or one of the tops, of a hill, mountain, or range, ending in a point. synonyms ▲

   Synonyms: summit, top

   They reached the peak after 8 hours of climbing.

4. (geography) The whole hill or mountain, especially when isolated. quotations ▼
   • 1898, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, chapter 62, in In the Forbidden Land:

     To the South we observed a large plain some ten miles wide, with snowy peaks rising on the farther side. In front was a hill projecting into the plain, on which stood a mani wall; and this latter discovery made me feel quite confident that I was on the high road to Lhassa.

5. (clothing, UK) visor (horizontal part of a cap sticking out in front and shading the wearer's eyes)
6. (nautical) The upper aftermost corner of a fore-and-aft sail.

   peak-halyards

   peak-brails

7. (nautical) The narrow part of a vessel's bow, or the hold within it.
8. (nautical) The extremity of an anchor fluke; the bill.
9. (mathematics) A local maximum of a function, e.g. for sine waves, each point at which the value of y is at its maximum.
10. (uncountable, Internet slang) Something of exceptional quality.

    There's so much peak on this website!

• → German: Peak
• → Russian: пик (pik) (in час пик (čas pik))

peak (third-person singular simple present peaks, present participle peaking, simple past and past participle peaked)

1. (transitive, nautical) To raise the point of (a gaff) closer to perpendicular.
2. (transitive, signal processing) To exceed the maximum signal amplitude of (a piece of equipment), resulting in clipping of the signal. quotations ▼
   • 2023 September 22, HarryBlank, “Off Track”, in SCP Foundation‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 May 2024:

     "Dr. Reynders?" Udo prodded.

     "Yes!" the woman shouted, peaking the speakers with a screech. "Of course I am! What the hell else could this be?! Of course I'm seeing double! And hearing double! AND THINKING DOUBLE! AND I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN WITH IT, BUT IT'S GETTING TO BE JUST A LITTLE BIT MUCH!" Her voice grew increasingly hoarse as it grew in volume, finally cracking on the last word.

3. (intransitive)
   1. To reach a highest degree or maximum.

      Historians argue about when the Roman Empire began to peak and ultimately decay.

   2. To rise or extend into a peak or point; to form, or appear as, a peak. quotations ▼
      • 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “(please specify the book number)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC:

        There peaketh up a mightie high mounte.

5. (gender-critical slang) Ellipsis of peak trans. quotations ▼
   • 2019 August 4, Alison Weir (@WeirAlison), Twitter‎^[2]:

     I came to this via sport but the thing that really peaked me was this.

   • 2019 August 31, MrsMiggins (@MrsMiggins13), Twitter‎^[3]:

     My friend peaked me last year, at the GRA [Gender Recognition Act] consultation.

   • 2021 November 22, DefendingMySisters (@DefendingMy), Twitter‎^[4]:

     Solidarity from Spain, @jk_rowling. Thank you for peaking so many people all over the world.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:peak.

• culminate

peak (comparative more peak, superlative most peak)

1. At the greatest extent; maximum.

   peak oil, Peak TV

2. (slang) Maximal, quintessential, archetypical, strictly with positive connotations; representing the culmination of its type.

   Knowing obscure 19th-century slang is peak nerd.

3. (MLE, dated) Bad. synonym ▲quotations ▼

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bad

   • 2015, “Its Peak”, performed by Tinie Tempah (featuring Stormzy and Bugzy Malone):

     When they're tryna get the girl to the crib and she leaves, it's peak / Tryna keep it discreet and she tweets, it's peak / See me rolling with 20 man deep, it's peak / Yo rudeboy, pull up, repeat, it's peak

   • 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Dom (David Jonsson):

     Tempting, but I think it's actually something I need to do. Like, I get what they did was peak, but I have to take some responsibility, you know?

4. (MLE, dated) Unlucky; unfortunate. synonym ▲

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:unlucky

   You didn't get a spot? That's peak.

5. (Internet slang) Very good or high-quality.

   That movie last night was so peak.

Unknown. Perhaps related to Etymology 1 above in the sense of "becoming pointed" through emaciation.^[1]

peak (third-person singular simple present peaks, present participle peaking, simple past and past participle peaked)

1. (intransitive) To become sick or wan.
2. (intransitive) To acquire sharpness of figure or features; hence, to look thin or sickly. quotations ▼
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Dwindle, peak, and pine.

3. (intransitive) To pry; to peep slyly.

• peaked
• peaky

peak (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of peag (“wampum”).

peak (third-person singular simple present peaks, present participle peaking, simple past and past participle peaked)

1. Misspelling of pique.

• kaep, Paek, pake, kape

• IPA^(key): /peak/ [pe.ak]
• Rhymes: -eak, -ak
• Hyphenation: pe‧ak

peak

1. inflection of pe:
   1. absolutive plural
   2. ergative singular