adj. (common).—Hungry.—GROSE (1785); BEE (1823). For synonyms, see WOLF.

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  1837.  HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker (1862), 167. I don’t care if I stop and breakfast with you for I feel considerably PECKISH this mornin’.

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  1845.  B. DISRAELI, Sybil; or, The Two Nations, VI. iii. When shall I feel PECKISH again?

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  1847.  THACKERAY, Vanity Fair, xxix. Seeing these nobs grubbing away has made me PECKISH too.

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  1860.  Chambers’s Journal, xiii. 212. There’s the tea on the hob, brewing like mad. Are you PECKISH?

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  1887.  W. E. HENLEY, Culture in the Slums, ‘Rondeau’ 1.

                ‘For lo! old pal,’ ses she,
‘I’m blooming PECKISH.’

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  1894.  GEORGE MOORE, Esther Waters, xli. I feel a bit PECKISH, don’t you? We might have a bit of lunch here.

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