peak: [16] Peak seems to come ultimately from the noun pick ‘pointed implement’ (as in toothpick). From this in the 15th century was formed an adjective picked ‘pointed’, which survived dialectally into the 19th century (S H A Hervey noted in the Wedmore Chronicle 1887 ‘Children still use ‘picked’ of a pencil with a good point to it’). It had a variant form peaked, from which peak appears to have been derived as a back-formation. The adjective peaky ‘sickly’ [19], incidentally, is not etymologically related. It comes from a now little used verb peak ‘become sickly or pale’ [16], whose origins are unknown. => pick
peak (n.)
"pointed top," 1520s, variant of pike (n.4) "sharp point." Meaning "top of a mountain" first recorded 1630s, though pike was used in this sense c. 1400. Figurative sense is 1784. Meaning "point formed by hair on the forehead" is from 1833. According to OED, The Peak in Derbyshire is older than the word for "mountaintop;" compare Old English Peaclond, for the district, Pecsaetan, for the people who settled there, Peaces ?rs for Peak Cavern; sometimes said to be a reference to an elf-denizen Peac "Puck."
peak (v.)
1570s, "to rise in a peak," from peak (n.). Figurative meaning "reach highest point" first recorded 1958. Related: peaked; peaking.
例文
1. The news programme goes out four times a week at peak time.
このニュース番組はゴールデンタイムに週4回放送されています。
2. Calls cost 36p (cheap rate) and 48p ( peak rate) per minute.
電話は毎分36ペンス（割引レート）と48ペンス（ピークレート）である。<／
3.The first episode occupies a peak evening viewing slot.
第1話は夕方のゴールデン視聴時間帯を占めた。
4.American art reached a peak of creativity in the '50 s and 60 s.