peter

plural peters

1. slangThe penis.

   “It's to put on their peters when they don't want to make babies,” she said.

   2002, Celia H Miles, Mattie's Girl: An Appalachian Childhood, page 64

   2 more examples

   You smile, act polite, shake their hands, then cut off their peters and put them in your pocket.” “Yes, Mr. President,” answered O'Brien.

   1997, Shelby Scates, Warren G. Magnuson and the Shaping of Twentieth-Century America, page 141

   ... and you were there, and they acted like you weren't even born yet?' "I'd say, 'Yes, their memories are as long as their peters.'"

   1998, Michael Robert Gorman, The Empress Is a Man: Stories from the Life of Jose Sarria, page 199

plural peters

1. UKslangA safe.First known use 18th c.

   The forty quid! Gone! ’Ow could she ’ave gotten in there? The peter ain’t broke, no sign of it bein’ bettied, and I the only one w’ the key.

   2013, Zack Wentz, “Simplicity itself”, in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, volume 10, page 161

   1 more example

   It used to be simple to 'crack a peter'. Safe-breaking (blowing or cracking a 'peter') in the past three or four years shows that the expert cracksman knows his job.

   1963, Kenneth Ullyett, Crime out of Hand, page 109

   Synonyms: pete

2. UKslangA prison cell.First known use 20th c.

   […] the ceremony of 'slopping out', breakfast, across to the main library from nine till half-past eleven, back to my peter for the mid-day meal and two hours' break, then the library again till five o'clock when tea was brought round and the cell door locked for the night.

   1955, Rupert Croft-Cooke, The Verdict of You All, page 82

present singular third person peters · participle present petering · participle past petered · past petered

1. intransitiveChiefly followed by out: originally (mining), of a vein of ore: to be depleted of ore; now (generally), to diminish to nothing; to dwindle, to trail off.

   My words petered away.

   2021, Helen Fisher, Faye, Faraway, page 241

   3 more examples

   I found a veinlet about 15 in. wide and very rich in gold. Trenching along its outcrop showed that it extended about 100 ft. and then pinched out altogether. A winze sunk on the veinlet showed that it "petered out" entirely at 25 or 30 ft.

   1910 T. Lane Carter: Mining in Nicaragua. Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Vol. XLI. 1910. Canal Zone Meeting, October, 1910

   Mersey Street is particularly attractive. Running up from the bay, it passes between terraced cottages before petering into a footpath that leads over the headland to a golf course and the dune-backed sands of Black Rock.

   1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 73

   Whitney is absorbed especially by Dublin's unglamorous interstitial zones: the new housing estates and labyrinths of roads, watercourses and railways where the city peters into its commuter belt.

   2014 August 23, Neil Hegarty, “Hidden City: Adventures and Explorations in Dublin by Karl Whitney, review: ‘a necessary corrective’ [print version: Re-Joycing in Dublin, page R25]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 May 2022

present singular third person peters · participle present petering · participle past petered · past petered

1. intransitivecard gamesSynonym of blue peter; to call for trump by throwing away a high card while holding a lower one.First known use 19th century

   Synonyms: blue peter

1. World War II era; joint US/RAF; World War II era; joint US/RAFradiotelephony clear-code word for the letter P.

   Synonyms: Papa

plural Peters

1. countableuncountableA male given name from Ancient Greek.

   What splendid names for boys there are! / There's Carol like a rolling car, / And Martin like a flying bird, / And Adam like the Lord's First Word, / And Raymond like the Harvest Moon, / And Peter like a piper's tune,

   1933, Eleanor Farjeon, “Boys' Names”, in Over the Garden Wall, Faber and Faber, page 90

   2 more examples

   She knew of no Peter, and yet he was here and there in John and Michael's minds, while Wendy's began to be scrawled all over with him. The name stood out in bolder letters than any of the other words, and as Mrs Darling gazed she felt that it had an oddly cocky appearance.

   1911, J. M. Barrie, chapter I, in Peter Pan, Wordsworth Editions Ltd, published 1993

   Reps. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Peter Meijer, a Republican from Michigan, said in a joint statement Tuesday that they had traveled to Kabul “to conduct oversight on the mission to evacuate Americans and our allies” and that the trip had been conducted in secret “to minimize the risk and disruption to the people on the ground.”

   2021 August 24, Devan Cole, Ryan Nobles, Zachary Cohen and Oren Liebermann, “Two congressmen traveled to Afghanistan amid frantic evacuation efforts”, in CNN, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2022

2. countableuncountableThe leading Apostle in the New Testament: Saint Peter.
3. countableuncountablebiblicalThe epistles of Peter in the New Testament of the Bible, 1 Peter and 2 Peter attributed to St. Peter.

   Synonyms: Pet.

4. countableuncountableA surname originating as a patronymic.
5. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Cache County, Utah, United States, named after Peter Maughan.

   Synonyms: Petersboro