bo-peep

[ boh-peep ]

/ boʊˈpip /

noun

peekaboo.

Nearby words

bo diddley beat, bo hai, bo juyi, bo tree, bo's'n, bo-peep, boa, boa constrictor, boa vista, boab, boabdil

Origin of bo-peep

1520–30; bo (variant of boo¹) + peep¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bo-peep

True lovers are as certain to return as Bo-Peep's flock or a systematically deported cat.
The Spinster Book|Myrtle Reed
Dress the little girl in whose honor the party is given as little Bo-peep, with a little crook.
Games for Everybody|May C. Hofmann
Bo-peep started off bravely, and pinned the tail to her mother's apron!
Boy Blue and His Friends|Etta Austin Blaisdell and Mary Frances Blaisdell
Ladies of the ballet dance bewitchingly, while soldiers play at Bo-Peep behind enormous red hoops.
Punch Volume 102, May 28, 1892|Various

That it is a variant of peep is seen in the child's word peek-a-boo, equivalent to bo-peep.
Write It Right|Ambrose Bierce

British Dictionary definitions for bo-peep

bo-peep

/ (ˌbəʊˈpiːp) /

noun

a game for very young children, in which one hides (esp hiding one's face in one's hands) and reappears suddenly

Australian and NZ informal a quick look (esp in the phrase have a bo-peep)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012