peck at

verb

pecked at; pecking at; pecks at

: to take small bites of (food)

Her son pecked at his food and said he wasn't hungry.

Examples of peck at in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In graduate school, my experimental archaeology professor told a student to create a door socket – the hole in a door frame that a bolt slides into – in a slab of sandstone by pecking at it with a rounded stone. — R. Alexander Bentley, The Conversation, 26 Feb. 2026

The bird might also be pecking at small insects that could be around the window frame. — Joan Morris, Mercury News, 16 Feb. 2026

Whether the creature is pecking at the ground or slumped over, unable to hold up the weight of its own body, all its gestures amount to Sisyphean false starts. — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026

To keep birds out of your fruit trees and prevent them from pecking at your crop, hang spiral reflective strips from the branches. — Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 30 Jan. 2026

Rhymes for peck at

• begat
• bobcat
• chitchat
• doormat
• ducat
• eclat
• format
• hazmat
• muskrat
• nonfat
• polecat
• thereat