Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PECK, v.t. [It. beccare; Sp. picar; Fr. becqueter; D. piken; G. picken; Dan. pikker. This verb is connected with the nouns beak and pike.]

1. To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into, as a bird that pecks a hole in a tree.
2. To strike with a pointed instrument, or to delve or dig with any thing pointed, as with a pick-ax. – Carew.
3. To pick up food with the beak. – Dryden.
4. To strike with small and repeated blows; to strike in a manner to make small impressions. In this sense, the verb is generally intransitive. We say, to peck at. – South. [This verb and pick are radically the same.]