peer

Verb (1)

peer (third-person singular simple present peers, present participle peering, simple past and past participle peered)

1. (intransitive) 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 Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • 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 fleck’d with bars (Heaven’s mother send us grace)
2. (intransitive, obsolete) 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, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • 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?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act IIII, signatures I, verso – I2, recto

Noun (1)

peer (plural peers)

1. 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, William Crookes, T. A. Malone, George Shadbolt, The British journal of photography, volume 117, page 58

Noun (2)

UK/pɪə̯/US/pɪɹ/

peer (plural peers)

1. 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

2. Someone who is approximately the same age (as someone else).
3. 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 power1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Comus”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC
4. 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

Verb (2)

UK/pɪə̯/US/pɪɹ/

peer (third-person singular simple present peers, present participle peering, simple past and past participle peered)

1. To make equal in rank.
   • Being now Peered with the Lord Chancellor, and the Earl of Essex.1670, Peter Heylyn, Aerius Redivivus
2. (Internet) 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.

Noun (3)

UK/piː.ə/US/pi.ɚ/

peer (plural peers)

1. (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 peer (pee-er?).1999 August 22, “Re: Swimming after eating”, in alt.folklore.urban (Usenet)
   • 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 peer.2000 August 29, “Re: 32 month old urinating in his room! HELP!”, in alt.parenting.solutions (Usenet)