From earlier peake, peek, peke, from Middle English pek (in place names), itself an alteration of pike, pyke, pyk (“a sharp point, pike”), from Old English pīc, piic (“a pike, needle, pin, peak, pinnacle”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz (“peak”).
Cognate with Dutch piek (“pike, point, summit, peak”), Danish pik (“pike, peak”), Swedish pik (“pike, lance, point, peak”), Norwegian pik (“peak, summit”). More at pike.
Meanings
At the greatest extent; maximum.
peak oil, Peak TV
(slang) Maximal, quintessential, archetypical, strictly with positive connotations; representing the culmination of its type.
These icons are simply unmatched and timeless. They can’t even get away from them to this day, they just flattened them. Vista was peak design and we’ve regressed since then. 2026 July 8, u/DAPOPOBEFASTONYOAZZ, r/WindowsVista (Reddit post), archived from the original on 11 Jul 2026:
Knowing obscure 19th-century slang is peak nerd.
(Multicultural-London-English) Bad.
When they're tryna get the girl to the crib and she leaves, it's peak / Tryna keep it discreet and she tweets, it's peak / See me rolling with 20 man deep, it's peak / Yo rudeboy, pull up, repeat, it's peak 2015, “Its Peak”, performed by Tinie Tempah (featuring Stormzy and Bugzy Malone):
Tempting, but I think it's actually something I need to do. Like, I get what they did was peak, but I have to take some responsibility, you know? 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane, spoken by Dom (David Jonsson):
[Siri:] Joz said, team, these apricots are peak. Have they always been this good? Why has no one told me? 2026 June 8, Apple, 37:56 from the start, in WWDC 2026 Keynote:
From earlier peake, peek, peke, from Middle English pek (in place names), itself an alteration of pike, pyke, pyk (“a sharp point, pike”), from Old English pīc, piic (“a pike, needle, pin, peak, pinnacle”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz (“peak”).
Cognate with Dutch piek (“pike, point, summit, peak”), Danish pik (“pike, peak”), Swedish pik (“pike, lance, point, peak”), Norwegian pik (“peak, summit”). More at pike.
Meanings
A point; the sharp end or top of anything that terminates in a point; as, the peak, or front, of a cap.
A less risky method is to lift your whisk or beater to check the condition of the peaks of the egg whites; the foam should be just stiff enough to stand up in well-defined, unwavering peaks. 2002, Joy of Cooking: All About Cookies, →ISBN, page 29:
The highest value reached by some quantity in a time period.
By last year, family income was 8 percent lower than it had been 11 years earlier, at its peak in 2000, according to inflation-adjusted numbers from the Census Bureau. 2012 October 23, David Leonhardt, New York Times, retrieved 24 Oct 2012:
The stock market reached a peak in September 1929.
The top, or one of the tops, of a hill, mountain, or range, ending in a point.
They reached the peak after 8 hours of climbing.
The whole hill or mountain, especially when isolated.
To the South we observed a large plain some ten miles wide, with snowy peaks rising on the farther side. In front was a hill projecting into the plain, on which stood a mani wall; and this latter discovery made me feel quite confident that I was on the high road to Lhassa. 1898, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, chapter 62, in In the Forbidden Land:
(UK) visor (horizontal part of a cap sticking out in front and shading the wearer's eyes)
The upper aftermost corner of a fore-and-aft sail.
peak-halyards
peak-brails
The narrow part of a vessel's bow, or the hold within it.
The extremity of an anchor fluke; the bill.
A local maximum of a function, e.g. for sine waves, each point at which the value of y is at its maximum.
(euphemistic) Orgasm.
As she came to her peak, he was with her all the way, making her crash, moan, say his name again and again. 2013 April 23, Crystal Green, Made in Texas!, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 214:
(Internet, uncountable) Something of exceptional quality.
From earlier peake, peek, peke, from Middle English pek (in place names), itself an alteration of pike, pyke, pyk (“a sharp point, pike”), from Old English pīc, piic (“a pike, needle, pin, peak, pinnacle”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz (“peak”).
Cognate with Dutch piek (“pike, point, summit, peak”), Danish pik (“pike, peak”), Swedish pik (“pike, lance, point, peak”), Norwegian pik (“peak, summit”). More at pike.
Meanings
(transitive) To raise the point of (a gaff) closer to perpendicular.
(transitive) To exceed the maximum signal amplitude of (a piece of equipment), resulting in clipping of the signal.
(intransitive) To reach a highest degree or maximum.
Historians argue about when the Roman Empire began to peak and ultimately decay.
(intransitive) To rise or extend into a peak or point; to form, or appear as, a peak.
There peaketh up a mightie high mounte. 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “(please specify the book number)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC:
(intransitive, of a person) To reach the highest level of success or greatness in one's lifetime.
(intransitive, of a person on drugs) To reach the point of strongest effect from a drug.
(abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, qualifier:gender-critical slang) Ellipsis of peak trans.
I came to this via sport but the thing that really peaked me was this. 2019 August 4, Alison Weir (@WeirAlison), Twitter:
Solidarity from Spain, @jk_rowling. Thank you for peaking so many people all over the world. 2021 November 22, DefendingMySisters (@DefendingMy), Twitter:
My friend peaked me last year, at the GRA [Gender Recognition Act] consultation. 2019 August 31, MrsMiggins (@MrsMiggins13), Twitter:
fi nousta huipulle (to rise or extend into a peak, to form or appear as a peak) · cs kulminovat (to reach a peak) · el κορυφώνομαι (to reach a peak) · hu tetőzik (to reach a peak) · cs vrcholit (to reach a peak) · zza pik resen (to reach a peak) · zza ser resen (to reach a peak) · fi olla huippu (to rise or extend into a peak, to form or appear as a peak) · ms puncak (to reach a peak) · fi olla korkeimmillaan (to reach a peak) · sh kulminirati (to reach a peak) · ro culmina (to reach a peak) · de kulminieren (to reach a peak) · de gipfeln (to reach a peak) · es culminar (to reach a peak) · fi saavuttaa huippunsa (to reach a peak) · hu kulminál (to reach a peak)
Unknown. Perhaps related to Etymology 1 above in the sense of "becoming pointed" through emaciation.
Meanings
(intransitive) To become sick or wan.
(intransitive) To acquire sharpness of figure or features; hence, to look thin or sickly.
Dwindle, peak, and pine. c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]: