▪ I. peer, n. (a.)
(pɪə(r))
Forms: 3–5 per, 3–6 pier, 4 peor, 4–5 pare, peyre, 4–6 pere, 4–7 peere, 4–8 peir, 5 pir, pyere, peyr, pyre, peree, 5–7 piere, 6 peare, 4– peer.
[ME. a. OF. per, peer (10th c. in Littré), since 16th c. pair, = Pr., Sp. par, It. pare, L. par-em equal. In OF. per was both adj. and n.; in English the adj. use is quite subordinate, and only in the expression peer to, where it might also be viewed as the n.]
A. n.
1. An equal in civil standing or rank; one's equal before the law.
| [1215 Magna Carta xxi, Comites & barones non amercientur nisi per pares suos. Ibid. xxxix, Nullus liber homo capiatur, vel imprisonetur,..nisi per legale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terrae.] 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6076 Men..Þat mow weyl, at allë ȝers, lyue as lordes, and be here pers. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 168 By his side He set him doun as pier and pier. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xxi. 89 Wheþer he suffre of his prelate or of his piere, or of his lower. 1587 Harrison England ii. xi. (1877) i. 222 When soeuer anie of the nobilitie are conuicted of high treason by their peeres, that is to saie equals. 1660 R. Coke Justice Vind. 16 Nor must Strafford suffer by an ordinary way of judicature by his peers,..he must die by Act of Parliament. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. xii. 403 As the lords, though different in rank, yet all of them are peers in respect of their nobility, so the Commoners..all are in law peers, in respect of their want of nobility. 1808 Scott Marm. i. xxviii, He..strode across the hall of state, And fronted Marmion where he sate, As he his peer had been. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. iii. 79 The sacred chain of friendship links together those who are unequal in rank as well as those who are each other's peers. |
2. a. One who takes rank with another in point of natural gifts or other qualifications; an equal in any respect. Said also of things.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 453/166 Seint Martin was apostlene pier: for þe holie gost a-liȝhte In him ase in þe Apostles. a 1300 Cursor M. 7970 Of al þe psalmes o þe sauter Þis psalme o penance has na per. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 30 Chauntecleer In al the land of crowyng nas his peer. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xv. vi, I knowe wel thow hast not thy pyere of ony erthely synful man. 1481 Caxton Godfrey clxiv. (1893) 242 He had moche leyd doun his pryde..he wende to haue faughten peer to peer. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. vi. 15 A faithfull frende hath no peare. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. i. §36 Fidelity, Bounty and generous Honesty..wherein..the true Heroick English Gentleman hath no Peer. 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 491 Ulysses..Jove's peer in wisdom. 1863 Tyndall Heat v. §158 (1870) 134 When we wish to overcome molecular forces, we must attack them by their peers. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. lxxiv. (1890) II. 607 Some of those men were the peers of the best European statesmen of the time. |
b. Anthropol. and Sociol. An equal; a contemporary; a member of the same age-group or social set. Also attrib. (see also sense 6 a below).
| 1944 C. M. Tryon in Nat. Soc. Study Educ. Yearbk. (U.S.) i. xii. 233 Although in meeting some adult standards girls must undergo less change than boys, in their relation to their own peer culture they must often be more adaptive in relation to changing requirements. 1953 A. K. C. Ottaway Educ. & Society 109 What is called ‘peer culture’, in other words the community of the same age, has a very great influence on the individual. 1958 W. J. H. Sprott Human Groups 71 Wherever there is an adolescent ‘peer-culture’ it will have an influence which competes with that of the home. 1964 Minturn & Lambert Mothers of Six Cultures 288 Nuclear family cultures are least punitive of peer-to-peer aggression. 1966 Bereiter & Engelmann Teaching Disadvantaged Children i. 18 In reading down the list of contrasts between the home and the nursery school environment, one finds..the same contrast could be drawn between the upper-middle-class and the lower-class child's environment: adult versus peer contacts, [etc.]. 1966 Listener 14 Apr. 535/2 With their peers—that is, people of the same age, sex, and status—adolescents really experience for the first time relationships embodying equality and democracy. 1971 New Society 18 Nov. 975/2, I have discovered that wild⁓born monkeys spend more time watching a live peer, than themselves, in mirrors. 1972 Where Mar. 95/3 You need to consider the quality of the relationship which exists between your son and the teachers, your son and his peers, and between you and the teachers. 1972 Jrnl. Social Psychol. LXXXVI. 111 A subject receiving positive evaluations from a group of his peers was more active in the group. 1973 Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. CXXII. 263 Studies of human peer-social behavior in the preschool period. Ibid. 275 Retrospection and Peer-Perception scores did not differ from each other. Ibid. CXXIII. 124 Firstborn children have greater verbal facility, and there is evidence that they have more successful relationships with their teachers than do the later born although later born are more often successful in their peer relationships. 1977 Sci. Amer. Sept. 177/3 Alternatively a distributed-processing system can be organized into a peer structure. All the computers..can communicate with one another on an equal footing. |
† 3. One who is associated or matched with another; a companion, mate; a rival. In quot. c 1330 = wife. Obs. or arch.
| 13.. K. Alis. 1576 Damoselis plaien with peoren alle. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 105 Malde þe quene his pere in God scho did endyng. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xi. 16 Children sittynge in cheepynge..cryinge to her peeris [etc.]. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3673 Pollux the pert kyng and his pere Castor. 1467 Waterf. Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 300 Every Maire and Maires pare..shal have his own voice to thelection of the Maire. 1591 Spenser Vis. Worlds Van. vi, An hideous Dragon..Strove with a Spider his unequall peare. 1657 Cowley Death Will. Harvey ii, My sweet Companion, and my gentle Peere. 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 493 O, glorious he, beyond His daring peers! 1817 Keats Endym. iv. 271, To stray away into these forests drear, Alone, without a peer. |
4. a. A member of one of the degrees of nobility in the United Kingdom; a duke, marquis, earl, viscount, or baron. Now also a man elevated to the peerage on a non-hereditary basis; = life peer s.v. life n. 17. Also = peeress in her own right.
Peers are of three classes: peers of the United Kingdom or peers of the realm (up to 1707 called peers of England, from 1707 to 1801 peers of Great Britain), all of whom, when of age and not otherwise disqualified, may sit in the House of Lords; peers of Scotland, of whom sixteen are elected to each Parliament as representative members to sit in the House of Lords; peers of Ireland, of whom twenty-eight representatives are elected for life to the House of Lords. By a declaration of the House of Lords in 1692, Bishops are only lords of Parliament, and not peers.
| [1321–2 Act 15 Edw. II, Nous piers de la terre, Countes & Barouns, en la presence notre Seigneur le Roi, agardoms que Sir Hugh le Despenser le fitz et Sir Hugh le Despenser le piere soient desheriteez. 1332 Rolls of Parlt. II. 68/2 Le Seigneur de Wake & autres Pierres de la terre.] 1382 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 514 By counsail of peeres of þe rewme. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 15 Thai..Besocht him fair, as a peyr off the land, To cum and tak sum gouernaill on hand. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Rich. II 5 The Piers and Lordes that did his cause uphold. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 127 The proudest Peere in the Realme shall not weare a head on his shoulders vnlesse he pay me tribute. 1654 Vilvain Epit. Ess. ii. i. 26 Kings rule is good, wors the Peers optimacy. 1707 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. iii. iii. 276 All Peers of the Realm being look'd on as the King's Hereditary constant Counsellors. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. viii, The neighbouring peer, full of grace and gravity. 1869 [see life-peer s.v. life n. 17]. 1900 Whitaker's Alm. 120 The House of Lords..consists of the Spiritual Lords of England..the Temporal Peers of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, and, in addition, 16 Hereditary Peers of Scotland selected to each Parliament, and 28 Hereditary or created Peers of Ireland elected for life. 1958 Oxford Mail 21 July 1/7 The announcement will enable the lifepeers to take their seats in the Lords in time for the opening of the next session of Parliament in November. It will be the first time women peers have been allowed to sit in the Lords. 1958 Times 24 July 8/7 The main point of this interim constitutional reform [sc. introduction of life peerages] was to enlarge Labour representation in the Upper House with working peers. 1974 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 24 Mar. 30/1 ‘We are very passionate that we are not peeresses; peeresses are the wives of peers...’ Now lavatories are discreetly marked ‘Peers’ and ‘Women Peers’. |
b. In reference to France: (a) One of the twelve peers of France: see douzepers; (b) One who possessed a territory which had been erected into a lordship, and who had a right to sit in the Parliament of Paris; (c) A member of the Upper Legislative Chamber, 1814–1848.
| [c 1205, c 1310: see douzepers.] c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 911 The peryss off France was still at thair parlement. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xx. 453 Rowlande was a ferde for his vncle charlemagn..wherfor he went anone nyghe hym and soo dyde oliver, ogyer, & all the xii peres. 1494 Fabyan Chron. I. clv. 143 [Charles Martel] chase xii perys, which, after some wryters, are callyd dozeperys. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Pair, La Cour des Pairs,..the Parliament of Paris wherein the Peeres of France may sit as Assistants. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 178–9 The Twelve Peeres of France have the precedence before all the rest of the Nobility... Of these Peeres, there be six of the Clergie. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The title peer, in France, is bestowed..on every lord or person, whose fee is erected into a lordship or peership. 1808 Scott Marm. vi. xxxiii, When Rowland brave and Oliver, And every paladin and peer, On Roncesvalles died! 1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. I. 131 Measures..directly opposed to the constitutional charter, to the constitutional rights of the chamber of peers, to the laws of the French. |
c. Applied to the ὅµοιοι of Sparta, i.e. those citizens who had equal right to hold state offices.
| 1838 Thirlwall Greece IV. 373 All who were unable to defray this expense, were..degraded into a lower class, from the rank of Peers to that of Inferiors, or Commoners. 1852 Grote Greece ii. lxxiii. IX. 344 A Spartan citizen, but not one of that select number called The Equals or The Peers. |
5. In generalized sense: A man of high rank, in any country, state, or organization; a noble.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 3976, & alle þe lordes of þat lond..& þe best burgeys..& þe pers of spayne þat were to prison take. c 1440 Bone Flor. 233 Go we to owre cowncell perys. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Heb. xii. 25 An vnnumerable syght of angels the heade peares & inhabitauntes thereof. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxviii. xi, Egipts greate peeres with homage shall attend. 1665 Needham Med. Medicinæ 21 Summoning all the Peers of the Faculty to a solemn Assembly. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 417 ¶8 The Stature and Behaviour of Satan and his Peers. |
| fig. 1701 De Foe True-born Eng. 27 Pride, the first Peer, and President of Hell. |
6. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. That is a peer; (sense 2 b) peer group, a group of people, freq. a group of adolescents, of the same age or social status. See also peer review.
| 1693 G. Stepney in Dryden's Juvenal viii. (1697) 209 A Peer Actor is no monstrous thing, Since Rome has own'd a Fidler for a King. 1889 Daily News 31 Jan. 3/6 Their peer critic had expressed his willingness [etc.]. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 11 Aug. 1/3 The fashion of Peer Mayors..delights provincial townsfolk and their womenkind. 1901 Daily Tel. 8 July 11/4 Lord Cardigan was the first peer-prisoner to be defended by members of the Bar. 1943 Breckenridge & Vincent Child Devel. xiii. 463 Although the adolescent declares his independence of adult standards and controls, he is actually very dependent upon conformity with his peer group. 1948 J. H. S. Bossard Sociol. of Child Devel. vi. xxi. 494 This element of antagonism between peer groups and adults has been fostered through the years in a great many ways. 1957 P. Lafitte Person in Psychol. viii. 104 Their standing in their peer group at school. 1959 Listener 19 Feb. 324/2 Each man's situation is slightly different from those of his peer-group. 1961 [see inner a. (n.2) 1 n]. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 297/1 One of these concepts is that of peer group which commonly refers to a group of homogeneous age composition. There is no reason, however, why this term cannot be applied to a group whose members are equal in some respect other than age. 1964 M. Argyle Psychol. & Social Probl. xv. 187 Young people between puberty and marriage are consciously aware of belonging to this peer-group, wear distinctive clothes, meet in groups at coffee-bars, [etc.]. 1966 Listener 14 Apr. 535/2 The gang is a relatively authoritarian form of peer group. 1972 J. L. Dillard Black English i. 34 In the ghetto culture, peer group relations govern the social activity, including language, of the child to a degree far beyond its importance among middle-class whites. 1976 Broadcast 29 Mar. 19/1 A desire..to be seen to be involved with peer-group heroes. |
b. Comb., as peer-maker, peer-making; peer-ridden adj.
| 1884 Chamberlain Sp. at Denbigh, The cup is nearly full. We have been too long a peer-ridden nation. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 6/3 Mr. Gladstone has been the greatest peer⁓maker of this, or perhaps of any, century. 1900 Ibid. 29 May 2/2 Peer making used to be considered a dearly cherished prerogative of the Crown. |
B. adj. or quasi-adj. Equal (to).
| [a 1300 Cursor M. 450 To godd self wald he be pere. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 49 Asia is most in quantite, Europa is lasse, and pere [Higden par, 1432–50 egalle, Caxton lyke] in noumbre of peple. Ibid. 179 Þe grete Constantinus bulde and made þis citee euene and pere to Rome [æquam Romæ]. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. vi. 36 Ȝour strength to thairis on na way mycht be peir. [1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 23 He is Peer to the great Lords of the Countrey. 1881 Atlantic Monthly XLVII. 296 More than one artist whose hand has not been peer to his feeling.] |
Hence ˈpeerhood, the condition of being a peer, peership. Also (nonce-wds.) ˈpeerish a., of or pertaining to a peer; ˈpeerling, a peer's son, an embryo peer; ˈpeery a., abounding in peers (so peeriness).
| 1888 Sat. Rev. 9 June 704 His flourishing period of poet⁓hood and *peerhood when Louis Philippe was king. |
| a 1734 North Examen i. ii. §141 (1740) 109 Any other Peer..might have been taken and made a *Peerish Example of. |
| 1793 J. Williams Life of Ld. Barrymore 62 The gay *Peerling, who is barely entitled to the honors and immunities of manhood. 1865 Spectator 25 Nov. 1302/2 A monopoly of power can no more be safely allowed to peers, peerlings, and peers' sons-in-law, than to artizans. |
| 1895 Westm. Gaz. 5 July 2/2 The new Cabinet is *peery to the end..no one less than an earl gets anything this morning. |
▪ II. peer, v.1
(pɪə(r))
Forms: 4–5 pere(n, 5 peere, peyre, Sc. peir, 6– peer.
[a. OF. perer, var. of pairier, parer:—L. pariāre to make equal, f. par-em equal, peer.]
† 1. trans. To make equal; to class as equal; to put in the same rank or on an equal footing with.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 666 [Bruce] To quhom, in-to gude cheuelry I dar peir nane. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xviii. (Egipciane) 1312 To þe quhilk..al þe warld ma nocht be peryd. c 1610 Sylvester tr. Mathieu's Mem. Mortal. xxxii, Man..Presume not yet to peer thee with thy God. a 1662 Heylin Hist. Presbyt. x. (1670) 347 Being now Peered with the Lord Chancellor, and the Earl of Essex. |
2. To equal, to rank with.
| a 1440 Sir Degrev. 1887 Was never perus myȝth hym peyre By resone ne ryȝth. 1614 T. Adams in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxix. 162 Of Homer it is said that none could ever peer him for poetry. a 1796 Burns ‘O wha is she that lo'es me’ (Chorus), O that's the queen o' womankind, And ne'er a ane to peer her. 1826 M. Howitt Surrey in Captiv. v, Young Surrey,—that brave heart That knight⁓hood might not peer. |
3. intr. To be equal, to rank on an equality.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 410 Ancres and hermytes, and monkes and freres Peren [v.rr. peeren, peres] to apostles þorw her parfit lyuynge. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 62 He wolde haue peerid with god of blis. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 147 b, Hertford may well with the best peere. a 1847 Eliza Cook Old Mill-stream ii, The Thames of Old England..Could not peer with the mill⁓streamlet close to my home. |
4. [f. prec. n.] trans. To make (a man) a peer; to raise to the peerage, to ennoble. colloquial.
| 1753 Dedication on Dedication 11 He was to be peered and pension'd. 1883 Tennyson in Life (1897) II. xv. 300 Her Majesty must decide as to when I am to be peered. |
▪ III. peer, v.2
(pɪə(r))
Also 6–7 peere, (8 pier).
[Known from c 1590: of uncertain origin and history.
Exactly the same sense as 1 below was expressed in the 14th c. by pire v. (app. = LG. pīren); and peer has accordingly been assumed to be merely a later form or spelling of pire. But, besides that there was a clear chronological gap between the two words, peer is not a phonetic development of pire, and cannot, so far as is at present known, be formally identified with that word; whether there was any irregular or ulterior connexion does not appear. In 15–16th c., pere, peere, were also ordinary spellings of pear v. = appear; and, in many instances (see senses 2, 3 below) the use of peer comes so close to that of pear (appear), that it is difficult to believe that there was not some blending of the two words, attributable to the fact that when peer, to look out, is said of inanimate things, the meaning is that they appear as if they were looking out. In several of the Shaksperian uses of peer it is difficult to determine whether the things are thought of as looking out, or as just appearing.]
1. intr. To look narrowly, esp. in order to discern something indistinct or difficult to make out.
| 1591 1st Pt. Ieronimo i. i. 109 One peeres for day, the other gappes for night. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 19, I should be still..Peering in Maps for ports, and peers, and rodes. 1623 Jas. I in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 139, I have bene trowbled with Hamilton, quho..wold needs peere over my showlder quhen I was reading thaime. 1722 De Foe Moll Flanders (1840) 275, I walked about peering and peeping into every door and window I came near. 1831 Poe Raven v, Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxi, How dare you pry, and peer, and stare at me, sirrah? |
b. trans. To search out, to pry out.
| 1838 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 181 We did not want him to go and peer out all the gossip concerning them. |
2. intr. (fig.) Said of inanimate things figured as looking out: To ‘peep out’ so as just to be seen; to appear slightly or in a half-hidden manner.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. i. 126 An houre before the worshipt Sun Peer'd forth the golden window of the East. 1596 ― 1 Hen. IV, v. i. 1 How bloodily the Sunne begins to peere Aboue yon busky hill. 1810 Southey Kehama xv. viii, Domes, and pinnacles, and spires were seen Peering above the sea. 1830 Tennyson Dirge vi, The frail blue⁓bell peereth over Rare broidry of the purple clover. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. xi, Already streaks of blue peer through our clouds. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. I. 30 Towns and villages..peer out from amidst vineyards, or clumps of the dark flat-topped pine. |
3. intr. (transf.) To show (itself); to come in sight; to be seen, to appear: nearly = pear v.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 86 Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave, Who, being look'd on, dives as quickly in. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 91 One inch of the neck [of the viol] only to peer aboue y⊇ ashes. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. vii. 88 For yet a many of your horsemen peere, And gallop ore the field. 1611 ― Wint. T. iv. iv. 3 No Shepherdesse, but Flora Peering in Aprils front. 1756 Home Douglas ii. (1757) 28 Darkly a project peers upon my mind. 1822 B. Cornwall Flood of Thessaly ii. 314 The horrid rocks peered up as black as death. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 124, I spy the ship; too gallantly it peers To cheat mine eye. |
† 4. trans. To make to appear or peep out, to show a little. Obs. rare.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 472 Who ore the white sheet peers her whiter chin, The reason of this rash allarme to know. |
▪ IV. peer, v.3 Sc. and dial.
(pɪə(r))
Also 6 peir, pere.
[Origin unknown.]
trans. To pour.
(‘We commonly use pour, when greater quantities issue forth; and pere, when the liquor trickles down by drops, or as it were small threeds’ Ruddiman Gloss. to Douglas.)
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. iv. 37 The fat olie did he ȝet and peir [ed. 1553 pere] Apoun the entraillis, to mak thaim birn cleir. 1863 Moncrieff Dream 37 (E.D.D.) She was hindered on peering the flick. 1881 I. of Wight Gloss., Peer, to pour out lard. |
▪ V. peer
obs. f. pear n., pear v., pier.