bo-peep

English

Alternative forms

• bo peep, bopeep

Noun

bo-peep (countable and uncountable, plural bo-peeps)

1. The act of looking out suddenly, as from behind a screen, so as to startle someone (as by children in play), or of looking out and drawing suddenly back, as if frightened.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     That such a king should play bo-peep, / And go the fools among.

   • 1881, Geneva Gazette - Jul 8, 1881, page 2, "Official Paper Of The Village"

     They have not employed spies, nor been voluntary or involuntary witnesses of misdeeds or played "bopeep" through key-holes or from step-ladders through transom windows, upon the privacy of their political adversaries.

2. (countable, British Virgin Islands) Any whistling frog.
3. (uncountable, Cockney rhyming slang) Sleep.
   • 1976, Ron Barnes, Coronation Cups and Jam Jars, page 164:

     Well, come on, boys. You've got to push off now. I'm going to read me linen and then get some Bo-Peep.

Synonyms

• (children's game): peek-a-boo, peep bo

Derived terms

• bo peepers / bo-peepers

Translations

act of sudden looking out

Verb

bo-peep (third-person singular simple present bo-peeps, present participle bo-peeping, simple past and past participle bo-peeped)

1. (intransitive) To play the game of bo-peep; to peek out suddenly.