peek
n. countablen. a quick or secret look at something. You often use this when you are looking at something you are not supposed to see yet.
n. a brief, often furtive or surreptitious look at something. Frequently occurs in the lighthearted idiom 'take a peek'.
I took a quick peek at my birthday presents.
The developer gave us a sneak peek at the new software interface before the official launch next month.
Despite the strict embargo, several journalists managed to get a peek at the classified documents during the brief recess in the hearing.
From Middle English *peken, piken, pyken (“to peep”), probably a fusion of Middle English pepen (“to peep”) and keken, kiken (“to keek, look, spy”), equivalent to a blend of peep + keek. Perhaps also possibly a metathetic alteration of Middle English kepen, kipen, kypen (“to keep, look, observe, watch”).
Commonly follows the verbs 'take', 'have', or 'get'.