peer
Somebody who is, or something that is, at a level or of a value equal (to that of something else).
Noun
- Somebody who is, or something that is, at a level or of a value equal (to that of something else).
- In song he never had his peer. - 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Cock and the Fox: Or, The Tale of the Nun’s Priest, from Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- Shall they draw off to their privileged quarters, and consort only with their peers? - 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
Synonyms: compeer
- Someone who is approximately the same age (as someone else).
- A noble with a title, i.e., a peerage, and in times past, with certain rights and privileges not enjoyed by commoners.
- a peer of the realm
- a noble peer of mickle trust and power - 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Comus”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC:
- A comrade; a companion; an associate.
- He all his Peeres in beautie did surpas, - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 37:
Origin
From Middle English per, pere, from Anglo-Norman peir, Old French per, from Latin pār. Doublet of pair and par.
Forms
Derived
depeer hereditary peer life peer nonpeer peer assessment peercast peerdom peer editing peeress peer group peerhood peerless peer of the realm peer pressure peer-reviewed peer-reviewed journal peer review peer reviewed peership peer-to-peer peer-to-peer economy peer-to-peer lending peery superpeer
Noun Entry 2
- A look; a glance.
- Blessed are those organisers who provide one-and-all with a name tag, for then the participants will chat together. A quick peer at your neighbour's lapel is much the simplest way to become introduced […] - 1970,...
Origin
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *pūrijan Old English *pȳran Middle English peren English peer From Middle English peren, pyren, piren (“to peer, gaze”), perhaps from Old English *pȳran (“to look, peer”), from Proto-West Germanic *pūrijan (“to look”), related to Saterland Frisian pierje (“to look”), Dutch Low Saxon piren (“to look”), West Flemish pieren (“to look with narrowed eyes, squint at”), Dutch pieren (“to look closely at, examine”), Middle English pouren (“to gaze, look closely”), English pore (“to study meticulously”). Compare also West Frisian pluere (“to peer”), Dutch pluren (“to gaze squintingly”), German Low German plieren (“to blink”), Danish plire (“to peer”), Swedish plira, blira (“to peer”), and thence ultimately related to the root of English blear. The sense meaning "to be visible" is perhaps from a shortening of appear.
Forms
Noun informal
- Someone who pees, someone who urinates.
- As was the caveat about peeing in a pool. Of course, peeing in a pool wasn't dangerous to the person ... If you peed in a pool, and you were carrying the polio virus, presumably *other* people were put at risk, not the...
- SOunds^([sic]) like you've already broken him quite well, if he's peeing when disciplined. Pretty sad. He's not a dog, not that treating a dog like this is any better either. You've turned your child into a submissive...
- Submissive peeing, on the other hand, IS related to anxiety. But submissive peeing is not marking. A submissive peer is generally a very submissive dog. - 2003 October 11, “Re: do female's "mark" their territory?”, in...
Origin
pee + -er
Forms
Verb Entry 4
- To look with difficulty, or as if searching for something.
- […] I should be still / Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind, / Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads; - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William...
- As if thro’ a dungeon grate he peer’d With broad and burning face. - 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Lyrical Ballads, London: J. & A. Arch, Part III, p. 17, And strait the Sun was...
- He walked slowly past the gate and peered through a narrow gap in the cedar hedge. The girl was moving along a sanded walk, toward a gray, unpainted house, with a steep roof, broken by dormer windows. - 1900, Charles...
- To come in sight; to appear.
- And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, / So honour peereth in the meanest habit. - c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories,...
- I, I, let you alone, cunning Artificer! / See, hovv his gorget peeres aboue his govvne; / To tell the people, in vvhat danger he vvas. - 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?]...
Forms
Derived
Verb Entry 5
- To make equal in rank.
- Being now Peered with the Lord Chancellor, and the Earl of Essex. - 1670, Peter Heylyn, Aerius Redivivus:
- To carry communications traffic terminating on one's own network on an equivalency basis to and from another network, usually without charge or payment. Contrast with transit where one pays another network provider to carry one's traffic.