peak: [16] Peak seems to come ultimately from the noun pick ‘pointed implement’ (as in toothpick). From this in the 15th century was formed an adjective picked ‘pointed’, which survived dialectally into the 19th century (S H A Hervey noted in the Wedmore Chronicle 1887 ‘Children still use ‘picked’ of a pencil with a good point to it’). It had a variant form peaked, from which peak appears to have been derived as a back-formation. The adjective peaky ‘sickly’ [19], incidentally, is not etymologically related. It comes from a now little used verb peak ‘become sickly or pale’ [16], whose origins are unknown. => pick
peak (n.)
"pointed top," 1520s, variant of pike (n.4) "sharp point." Meaning "top of a mountain" first recorded 1630s, though pike was used in this sense c. 1400. Figurative sense is 1784. Meaning "point formed by hair on the forehead" is from 1833. According to OED, The Peak in Derbyshire is older than the word for "mountaintop;" compare Old English Peaclond, for the district, Pecsaetan, for the people who settled there, Peaces ærs for Peak Cavern; sometimes said to be a reference to an elf-denizen Peac "Puck."
peak (v.)
1570s, "to rise in a peak," from peak (n.). Figurative meaning "reach highest point" first recorded 1958. Related: peaked; peaking.
实用例句
1. The news programme goes out four times a week at peak time.
这档新闻节目每周在黄金时段播出4次。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Calls cost 36p (cheap rate) and 48p (peak rate) per minute.
电话每分钟36便士（优惠费率）和48便士（高峰费率）。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The first episode occupies a peak evening viewing slot.
第一集占据了傍晚的一个黄金收视时段。
来自柯林斯例句
4. American art reached a peak of creativity in the '50s and 60s.
