1. One of the same rank, quality, endowments, character, etc.; an equal; a match; a mate. In song he never had his peer. Dryden. Shall they consort only with their peers I. Taylor.
2. A comrade; a companion; a fellow; an associate. He all his peers in beauty did surpass. Spenser.
3. A nobleman; a member of one of the five degrees of the British nobility, namely, duke, marquis, earl, viscount, baron; as, a peer of the realm. A noble peer of mickle trust and power. Milton. House of Peers, The Peers, the British House of Lords. See Parliament. — Spiritual peers, the bishops and archibishops, or lords spiritual, who sit in the House of Lords.
PEER
Peer v. t.
Defn: To make equal in rank. [R.] Heylin.
PEER
Peer v. t.
Defn: To be, or to assume to be, equal. [R.]
PEERAGE
Peer"age, n. Etym: [See Peer an equal, and cf. Parage.]
1. The rank or dignity of a peer. Blackstone.
2. The body of peers; the nobility, collectively. When Charlemain with all his peerage fell. Milton.