Word of the Day
: May 2, 2014peach
playWhat It Means
1 : to inform against : betray
2 : to turn informer : blab
peach in Context
Debbie peached on her friends the moment the teacher demanded to know the truth about the prank.
"They'll think his lordship, or perhaps his brother, peached on them.” - From Grace Burrowes' 2013 historical romance Gabriel: Lord of Regrets
Did You Know?
If you guessed that the origin of this verb "peach" has something to do with a slightly fuzzy fruit, you are unfortunately incorrect. The fruit "peach" is an unrelated word that traces back to the Latin phrase "malum persicum," literally meaning "Persian fruit." The verb that we are featuring today evolved from Middle English "apechen" ("to accuse"), itself an offspring of an Anglo-French verb meaning "to ensnare." That Anglo-French word is also an ancestor of the English verb "impeach," meaning "to bring an accusation against." Both of these English verbs can be traced back further to a Latin word for a shackle for the feet, and that word is itself rooted in "ped-, pes," meaning "foot."
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