different between peck vs quart

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English pecken, pekken, variant of Middle English piken, picken, pikken (“to pick, use a pointed implement”). More at pick.

Verb

peck (third-person singular simple present pecks, present participle pecking, simple past and past participle pecked)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To strike or pierce with the beak or bill (of a bird).

   The birds pecked at their food.

   • 1922, Virginia Woolf, 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.

2. (transitive) To form by striking with the beak or a pointed instrument.

   to peck a hole in a tree

3. To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument, especially with repeated quick movements.
4. To seize and pick up with the beak, or as if with the beak; to bite; to eat; often with up.

   • 1713 September 14, letter to Joseph Addison, The Guardian, issue 160.

5. To do something in small, intermittent pieces.

   He has been pecking away at that project for some time now.

6. To type by searching for each key individually.
7. (rare) To type in general.
8. To kiss briefly.
   • 1997, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 1; 1998 ed., Scholastic Press, ?ISBN, 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

Translations

Noun

peck (plural pecks)

1. An act of striking with a beak.
2. A small kiss.

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably from Anglo-Norman pek, pekke, of uncertain origin.

Noun

peck (plural pecks)

1. One quarter of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts.

   They picked a peck of wheat.
2. A great deal; a large or excessive quantity.

   She figured most children probably ate a peck of dirt before they turned ten.

Translations

Etymology 3

Variant of pick (“to throw”).

Verb

peck (third-person singular simple present pecks, present participle pecking, simple past and past participle pecked)

1. (regional) To throw.
2. To lurch forward; especially, of a horse, to stumble after hitting the ground with the toe instead of the 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

peck (uncountable)

1. Discoloration caused by fungus growth or insects.

   an occurrence of peck in rice

Derived terms

• pecky

Etymology 5

Noun

peck

1. Misspelling of pec.

English

Etymology

From French quart, from Latin quartus (“one-fourth”). Cognate with Spanish cuarto (“quarter; room, quarters”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kw??t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kw??t/, /k??t/
• Rhymes: -??(r)t

Noun

quart (plural quarts)

1. A unit of liquid capacity equal to two pints; one-fourth (quarter) of a gallon. Equivalent to 1.136 liters in the UK and 0.946 liter (liquid quart) or 1.101 liters (dry quart) in the U.S.
2. (card games) Four successive cards of the same suit.
3. (obsolete) A fourth; a quarter; hence, a region of the earth.

Translations

See also

• you can't get a quart into a pint pot

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin quartus (“fourth”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?kwa?t/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?kwart/

Adjective

quart (feminine quarta, masculine plural quarts, feminine plural quartes)

1. fourth

Usage notes

When quart is the ordinal number of a century or of a regnal name of a monarch or pope, it is written using Roman numerals following the noun. Thus Joan Quart is written Joan IV.

For most fractional numbers, the ordinal number is used to indicate the denominator of the fraction. Quart and its forms share the job of indicating fractional fourths with quarter and its forms. Exceptions to this rule include mig (“half”), terç (“third”), quarter (“quarter”), milionèsim (“millionth”), bilionèsim (“billionth”), ....

The feminine form of the ordinal is usually used as the collective noun for a set of like objects of that size. Instead of quart, qüern is used. Exceptions to the usual rule include parell (“set of 2”), qüern (“set of 4”), centenar (“set of 100”), grossa (“set of 144”), miler (“set of 1000”), and milenar (“1000”).

Synonyms

• (fraction): quarter

Derived terms

• quart creixent (waxing quarter moon):
• quart minvant (waning quarter moon):
• quart de rodó (quarter round molding):

Noun

quart m (plural quarts)

1. quarter hour
2. A political subdivision of the parishes La Massana, Ordino, and Sant Julià de Lòria in Andorra.
3. (obsolete) barrel; unit of liquid measure equal to one-quarter of a pipe
4. (paper) quarto; paper size
5. (printing) quarto; book size
6. (castells) a casteller on the fourth level of a castell

Further reading

• “quart” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

From Latin qu?rtus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka?/
• Homophones: car, quarts
• Rhymes: -a?

Adjective

quart (feminine singular quarte, masculine plural quarts, feminine plural quartes)

1. (dated) fourth

Derived terms

• quart-monde

Noun

quart m (plural quarts)

1. quarter (fraction)
2. (Quebec) shift (period of work)

Derived terms

Related terms

• quatre
• quatuor

Further reading

• “quart” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Adjective

quart m (feminine singular quarte, masculine plural quarts, feminine plural quartes)

1. fourth

Synonyms

• quatriesme

Norman

Etymology 1

From Old French quart, from Latin quartus.

Noun

quart m (plural quarts)

1. (Guernsey) quarter (fraction)

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Noun

quart m (plural quarts)

1. (Jersey) watch

Old French

Adjective

quart m (oblique and nominative feminine singular quarte)

1. fourth

Noun

quart m (oblique plural quarz or quartz, nominative singular quarz or quartz, nominative plural quart)

1. quarter (1/4)
2. fourth (the ordinal position corresponding to four)