PEAK


Meaning of PEAK in English

/ piːk; NAmE / noun , verb , adjective

■ noun

1.

[ usually sing. ] the point when sb/sth is best, most successful, strongest, etc.

SYN height :

Traffic reaches its peak between 8 and 9 in the morning.

She's at the peak of her career.

the peaks and troughs of married life

—compare off-peak

2.

the pointed top of a mountain; a mountain with a pointed top :

a mountain peak

snow-capped / jagged peaks

The climbers made camp halfway up the peak.

3.

any narrow and pointed shape, edge, etc. :

Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks.

4.

( BrE ) ( NAmE bill , visor ) the stiff front part of a cap that sticks out above your eyes

—picture at baseball cap

■ verb

[ v ] to reach the highest point or value :

Oil production peaked in the early 1980s.

Unemployment peaked at 17%.

an athlete who peaks (= produces his or her best performance) at just the right time

■ adjective

[ only before noun ] used to describe the highest level of sth, or a time when the greatest number of people are doing sth or using sth :

It was a time of peak demand for the product.

March is one of the peak periods for our business.

The athletes are all in peak condition .

We need extra help during the peak season .

—compare off-peak

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WORD ORIGIN

mid 16th cent.: probably a back-formation from peaked , variant of dialect picked pointed .

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.