Part 150

Shak.

2. Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable dissatisfaction; as, a peevish answer.

3. Silly; childish; trifling. [Obs.]

To send such peevish tokens to a king.

Shak.

Syn. -- Querulous; petulant; cross; ill-tempered; testy; captious; discontented. See Fretful.

Pee"vish*ly, adv. In a peevish manner. Shak.

Pee"vish*ness, n. The quality of being peevish; disposition to murmur; sourness of temper.

Syn. -- See Petulance.

{ Pee"vit (?), Pee"wit (?), } n. (Zoˆl.) See Pewit.

Peg (?), n. [OE. pegge; cf. Sw. pigg, Dan. pig a point, prickle, and E. peak.] 1. A small, pointed piece of wood, used in fastening boards together, in attaching the soles of boots or shoes, etc.; as, a shoe peg.

2. A wooden pin, or nail, on which to hang things, as coats, etc. Hence, colloquially and figuratively: A support; a reason; a pretext; as, a peg to hang a claim upon.

3. One of the pins of a musical instrument, on which the strings are strained. Shak.

4. One of the pins used for marking points on a cribbage board.

5. A step; a degree; esp. in the slang phrase "To take one down peg."

To screw papal authority to the highest peg.

Barrow.

And took your grandess down a peg.

Hudibras.

Peg ladder, a ladder with but one standard, into which cross pieces are inserted. -- Peg tankard, an ancient tankard marked with pegs, so as divide the liquor into equal portions. "Drink down to your peg." Longfellow. -- Peg tooth. See Fleam tooth under Fleam. -- Peg top, a boy's top which is spun by throwing it. -- Screw peg, a small screw without a head, for fastening soles.

Peg (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pegged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pegging (?).] 1. To put pegs into; to fasten the parts of with pegs; as, to peg shoes; to confine with pegs; to restrict or limit closely.

I will rend an oak And peg thee in his knotty entrails.

Shak.

2. (Cribbage) To score with a peg, as points in the game; as, she pegged twelwe points. [Colloq.]

Peg, v. i. To work diligently, as one who pegs shoes; -- usually with on, at, or away; as, to peg away at a task.

||Pe`ga*dor" (?), n. [Sp., a sticker.] (Zoˆl.) A species of remora ||(Echeneis naucrates). See Remora.

Pe*ga"se*an (?), a. Of or pertaining to Pegasus, or, figuratively, to poetry.

Peg"a*soid (?), a. [Pegasus + -oid.] (Zoˆl.) Like or pertaining to Pegasus.