# peer

Pronunciation: say "PEER" US /pɪ(ə)ɹ/, UK /pɪə̯/

## Noun

1. A person of the same age, rank, ability, or standing as another, or a thing of equal value.
   - Simple: Someone of the same age, rank or ability as another person, or a thing equal in value to another.
   - _The committee asked each scientist to have a peer check the results before publication._
   - _Among midsize sedans, this model outperforms its peers in fuel economy._
4. A titled member of the nobility, who in earlier times enjoyed rights and privileges denied to commoners.
   - Simple: A noble with a high title, such as a duke or a baron.
   - _As a peer, the duke was entitled to sit in the House of Lords._
   - _Several peers spoke against the bill during the debate in the Lords._
5. A look or a glance.
   - Simple: A quick or careful look at something, often to see it better.

## Verb

2. To look with difficulty or concentration, as if searching for something.
   - Simple: To look very carefully or with effort, often because something is hard to see.
   - _The detective peered into the dim warehouse before stepping inside._
   - _Visitors peer through the glass to watch the chicks hatch._

## Noun

3. A person one keeps company with; a comrade or associate. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A friend or companion who does things with you.

## Verb

6. To become visible; to emerge into view. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To come into sight or begin to appear.
7. To make someone or something equal in rank to another. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make one person or thing equal in rank to another.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To carry traffic terminating on one's own network to and from another network on an equal basis, usually without charge, unlike transit, where one pays another provider to carry one's traffic.
- (noun) Someone who pees; a person who urinates.

## Origin

**Meanings 2, 5–6** — From Middle English peren or piren ("to peer, gaze"), perhaps from an Old English *pȳran ("to look"), going back to Proto-West Germanic *pūrijan ("to look") and related to words in Frisian, Dutch, and Low Saxon meaning "to look" or "to squint." The sense "to be visible" is perhaps a shortening of appear.
**Meanings 1, 3–4, 7** — The noun peer goes back to Latin pār, which reached Middle English as pere by way of Old French per and Anglo-Norman peir. Pair and par are doublets of peer.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/peer (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).