peek

v. to look at something quickly and secretly, especially when you are not supposed to.

v. to look surreptitiously or slyly, often through a small opening or from a concealed position.

“The children tried to peek through the keyhole to see their presents.”

“She couldn't resist the urge to peek at the final chapter of the novel while she was only halfway through the book.”

Informal

v. to be just barely visible, like something coming out from behind a cloud.

v. to be only partially or slightly visible, as if emerging from a hiding place or cover.

“The sun began to peek through the clouds after the heavy rain.”

“A few bright green shoots were starting to peek through the melting snow, signalling the arrival of early spring.”

Informal

v. to look at a specific piece of information stored in a computer's memory.

v. to retrieve a value from a specific memory address, common in early programming languages like BASIC.

“The programmer used a command to peek at the data in that memory slot.”

“In legacy systems, developers would frequently peek and poke memory addresses to manipulate hardware registers directly.”

Technical · Archaic

n. a quick or secret look at something.

n. a brief or surreptitious glance.

“Take a peek inside the box and tell me what you see.”

“The curator allowed us a sneak peek of the new exhibit before it officially opened to the general public.”

Informal