Part 138

The collared peccary, or tajacu (Dicotyles torquatus), is about the size and shape of a small hog, and has a white ring aroung the neck. It ranges from Arkansas to Brazil. A larger species (D. labiatus), with white cheeks, is found in South America.

||Pec*ca"vi (?). [L.] I have sinned; -- used colloquially to express ||confession or acknowledgment of an offense. Aubrey.

Pec"co (?), n. See Pekoe.

Peck, n. [Perh. akin to pack; or, orig., an indefinite quantity, and fr. peck, v. (below): cf. also F. picotin a peak.] 1. The fourth part of a bushel; a dry measure of eight quarts; as, a peck of wheat. "A peck of provender." Shak.

2. A great deal; a large or excessive quantity. "A peck of uncertainties and doubts." Milton.

Peck, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pecked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pecking.] [See Pick, v.] 1. To strike with the beak; to thrust the beak into; as, a bird pecks a tree.

2. Hence: To strike, pick, thrust against, or dig into, with a pointed instrument; especially, to strike, pick, etc., with repeated quick movements.

3. To seize and pick up with the beak, or as with the beak; to bite; to eat; -- often with up. Addison.

This fellow pecks up wit as pigeons peas.

Shak.

4. To make, by striking with the beak or a pointed instrument; as, to peck a hole in a tree.

Peck, v. i. 1. To make strokes with the beak, or with a pointed instrument. Carew.

2. To pick up food with the beak; hence, to eat.

Dryden.

To peck at, to attack with petty and repeated blows; to carp at; to nag; to tease.

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Peck (?), n. A quick, sharp stroke, as with the beak of a bird or a pointed instrument.

Peck"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, pecks; specif., a bird that pecks holes in trees; a woodpecker.

2. An instrument for pecking; a pick. Garth.

Flower pecker. (Zoˆl.) See under Flower.

Peck"ish, a. Inclined to eat; hungry. [Colloq.] "When shall I feel peckish again?" Beaconsfield.

Pec"kled (?), a. Speckled; spotted. [Obs.]

||Pe*cop"te*ris (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; to comb + &?; a kind of ||fern.] (Paleon.) An extensive genus of fossil ferns; -- so named from ||the regular comblike arrangement of the leaflets.

||Pec"o*ra (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. pecus. See Pecuniary.] (Zoˆl.) An ||extensive division of ruminants, including the antelopes, deer, and ||cattle.

Pec"tate (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of pectic acid.

Pec"ten (?), n. [L. pecten, - inis, a comb, a kind of shellfish. See Pectinate.] 1. (Anat.) (a) A vascular pigmented membrane projecting into the vitreous humor within the globe of the eye in birds, and in many reptiles and fishes; -- also called marsupium. (b) The pubic bone.

2. (Zoˆl.) Any species of bivalve mollusks of the genus Pecten, and numerous allied genera (family PectinidÊ); a scallop. See Scallop.

3. (Zoˆl.) The comb of a scorpion. See Comb, 4 (b).