- peep (v.1)
- "glance" (especially through a small opening), mid-15c., perhaps alteration of Middle English piken (see peek (v.)). Peeping Tom "a curious prying fellow" [Grose] is from 1796 (see Godiva).
- peep (v.2)
- "make a short chirp," c. 1400, probably altered from pipen (mid-13c.), ultimately imitative (compare Latin pipare, French pepier, German piepen, Lithuanian pypti, Czech pipati, Greek pipos).
- peep (n.1)
- 1520s, first in sense found in peep of day, from peep (v.1); meaning "a furtive glance" is first recorded 1730.
- peep (n.2)
- "short chirp," early 15c., from peep (v.2); meaning "slightest sound or utterance" (usually in a negative context) is attested from 1903. Meaning "young chicken" is from 1680s. The marshmallow peeps confection are said to date from 1950s.
