peckish

That's a sign that you're so peckish you could swallow anything.

Why, of course, this is their breakfast-time, and the sight of us has made them peckish.

We're not likely to be in time for table d'hte—not that I'm peckish.

If youre going up in the air, Captain, youll be peckish, the man said.

And I am as peckish as I can be, said the boy, a rapid thought flashing through his mind.

The luncheon gong will go in a minute or two, and this keen air makes one peckish—Eh, what?

Peckish is though more likely to be derived from the action of birds when eating, as all slang has its origin in metaphor.

If I felt sort of peckish they let me suck a little glass thermometer, but there is not much nourishment really in thermometers.

"I'm peckish again," he said, climbing to the deck, and wiping the perspiration from his forehead with a piece of oily waste.

Well, now I'm off home, for its peckish work mowing on an empty belly, and the mother'll be looking out for me.