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.
Meanings
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:
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.
Meanings
(intransitive) To look with difficulty, or as if searching for something.
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 W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 10:
Long before you see the lean, handsome heads peering mildly over the half-doors of the loose boxes, you know that East Ilsley's business is training racehorses. 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:
He would peek into the curtained windows, or, climbing upon the roof, peer down the black depths of the chimney in vain endeavor to solve the unknown wonders that lay within those strong walls. 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter VI, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC, page 65:
[…] 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] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
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)
(intransitive, obsolete) To come in sight; to appear.
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:
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] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
ru высма́тривать (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · fi tähyillä (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · ru всма́триваться (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · fr scruter du regard (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · sv plira (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · cs hledět (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · bg взи́рам се (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · cs zírat (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · ru вы́смотреть (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · mi whakatare (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · tr gözetlemek (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · de illern (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · de kieken (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · cs civět (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · it scrutare (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · ru всмотре́ться (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · fi tiirailla (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · ru вгля́дываться (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · sv speja (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · de linsen (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · es escrutar (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · ru вгляде́ться (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · sv kika (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · sh píljiti (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · scn scròpiri (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · it sbirciare (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · nb kikke (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · cmn 細看 /细看 (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · mi whakataretare (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · sv spana (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · mi whātare (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · cmn 凝視 /凝视 (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · pt espreitar (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · mi whātaretare (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · hu kémlel (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · eo elrigardi (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · nl turen (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · sh пи́љити (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · de spähen (to look with difficulty or as if searching) · scn taliari (to look with difficulty or as if searching)
From Middle English per, pere, from Anglo-Norman peir, Old French per, from Latin pār. Doublet of pair and par.
Meanings
Somebody who is, or something that is, at a level or of a value equal (to that of something else).
Shall they draw off to their privileged quarters, and consort only with their peers? 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
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:
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:
de Adeliger (noble) · de Edelfrau (noble) · ca igual (someone or something of equal level) · tr yaşıt (someone of same age) · cmn 貴族 /贵族 (noble) · pl koleżanka (comrade, companion, associate) · tr akran (someone or something of equal level) · fr pair (noble) · sh вр̀сница (someone of same age) · scn nòbbili (noble) · fi ikätoveri (someone of same age) · de Gleicher (someone or something of equal level) · fr égale (someone or something of equal level) · fi toveri (comrade, companion, associate) · it coetaneo (someone of same age) · ru све́рстница (someone of same age) · it nobile (noble) · scn stissu (someone or something of equal level) · el ευγενής (noble) · de Gleichgestellter (someone or something of equal level) · bg връстничка (someone of same age) · ja タメ (someone of same age) · be раве́снік (someone of same age) · cs vrstevnice (someone of same age) · pl par (noble) · ja 華族 (noble) · ko 동배 (someone or something of equal level) · sh вр̀сница (someone or something of equal level) · uk одно́літка (someone of same age) · pt par (someone or something of equal level) · tr lord (noble) · it pari (noble) · uk одного́дка (someone of same age) · sv jämnårig (someone of same age) · ko 동료 (comrade, companion, associate) · sh vršnjàkinja (someone or something of equal level) · scn cumpagnu (someone or something of equal level) · ru све́рстница (someone or something of equal level) · tl kabarkada (comrade, companion, associate) · sh вр̀снӣк (someone of same age) · ga tiarna (noble) · hi समकक्ष (someone or something of equal level) · mk врсник (someone of same age) · fr pareil (pareille f) (someone or something of equal level) · tr emsâl (someone or something of equal level) · lut ʔixʷəd (someone of same age) · ar قَرِين (someone of same age) · uk одного́док (someone of same age) · ru дворяни́н (noble) · es noble (noble) · cs vrstevník (someone of same age) · de Gleichrangiger (someone or something of equal level) · sk rovesník (someone of same age) · de Kollegin (comrade, companion, associate) · sv pär (noble) · de Gleichaltrige (someone of same age) · enm per (comrade, companion, associate) · da jævnaldrende (someone of same age) · scn cumpagnu (comrade, companion, associate) · nl gelijke (someone or something of equal level) · fr égal (someone or something of equal level) · ca par (noble) · bg ра́вен (someone or something of equal level) · ru дворя́нка (noble) · fr pair (someone or something of equal level) · fr noble (noble) · de Ebenbürtige (someone or something of equal level) · be аднале́тка (someone of same age) · he רֵעַ (someone or something of equal level) · fa همتا (someone or something of equal level) · de Fachkollege (comrade, companion, associate) · lv pērs (noble) · it pari (someone or something of equal level) · et eakaaslane (someone of same age) · ru партнёр (comrade, companion, associate) · gd leithid (someone or something of equal level) · sh vr̀snica (someone of same age) · ar تِرْب (someone of same age) · sh vr̀snīk (someone of same age) · id sejawat (someone or something of equal level) · sl vrstnik (someone of same age) · ru ро́вня (someone or something of equal level) · bg пер (noble) · be аднаго́дак (someone of same age) · fi vertainen (someone or something of equal level) · hi समकक्ष (someone of same age) · mk врсничка (someone of same age) · ru пэр (noble) · mk врсник (someone or something of equal level) · ru компаньо́н (comrade, companion, associate) · de Peer (noble) · gd comhaois (someone of same age) · sv like (someone or something of equal level) · bg равносто́ен (someone or something of equal level) · ru рове́сник (someone of same age) · it uguale (someone or something of equal level) · be раве́сніца (someone of same age) · es par (someone or something of equal level) · ru рове́сник (someone or something of equal level) · tr yaşıt (someone or something of equal level) · sh vr̀šnjāk (someone of same age) · nmn ǃnáã (someone or something of equal level) · ru све́рстник (someone or something of equal level) · ba йәштәш (someone of same age) · ba тиҫтер (someone of same age) · ru напа́рница (comrade, companion, associate) · sv jämlike (someone or something of equal level) · pl rówieśnik (someone of same age) · pl jednolatek (someone of same age) · es coetáneo (someone of same age) · tr taydaş (someone or something of equal level) · ja 貴族 (noble) · fr semblable (someone or something of equal level) · ru партнёрша (comrade, companion, associate) · scn pariggiu (someone or something of equal level) · ga piara (someone or something of equal level) · sh vršnjàkinja (someone of same age) · scn avali (someone or something of equal level) · ko 동갑 (someone of same age) · id sejawat (comrade, companion, associate) · cmn 同輩 /同辈 (someone or something of equal level) · ja 同い年 (someone of same age) · hu egyenrangú (someone or something of equal level) · fi pääri (noble) · he עָמִית (someone or something of equal level) · hu társ (comrade, companion, associate) · nl edelman (noble) · ota یاشداش (someone of same age) · sh вр̀шња̄к (someone of same age) · id sebaya (someone of same age) · ga bantiarna (noble) · enm per (noble) · he עָמִית (comrade, companion, associate) · es par (noble) · ba тиң (someone or something of equal level) · nl edele (noble) · az yaşıd (someone of same age) · ang efneald (someone of same age) · ang æþel (noble) · sh vr̀snica (someone or something of equal level) · be аднале́так (someone of same age) · et aadlik (noble) · ru напа́рник (comrade, companion, associate) · et vanusekaaslane (someone of same age) · ru све́рстник (someone of same age) · enm felawe (someone or something of equal level) · be раве́сьніца (someone of same age) · hu kortárs (someone of same age) · hu nemes (noble) · nl leeftijdgenoot (someone of same age) · be аднаго́дка (someone of same age) · myv мастачей (noble) · ja 同輩 (someone or something of equal level) · scn pariggiu (someone of same age) · sh вр̀снӣк (someone or something of equal level) · uk рове́сник (someone of same age) · scn picciottu di squatra (comrade, companion, associate) · scn cumpari (comrade, companion, associate) · sh vr̀snīk (someone or something of equal level) · pt par (noble) · be раве́сьнік (someone of same age) · cmn 同齡人 /同龄人 (someone of same age) · sh kolega (comrade, companion, associate) · sh вр̀шња̄к (someone or something of equal level) · bg връстник (someone of same age) · es congénere (someone or something of equal level) · de Kollege (comrade, companion, associate) · nb jevnaldrende (someone or something of equal level) · sh kolegica (comrade, companion, associate) · mi hoa aropā (someone or something of equal level) · cmn 同齡人 /同龄人 (someone or something of equal level) · ko 귀족 (noble) · sh вршња̀киња (someone or something of equal level) · scn cuitaniu (someone of same age) · ru рове́сница (someone or something of equal level) · uk одно́літок (someone of same age) · ru пэр (someone or something of equal level) · sk rovesníčka (someone of same age) · ru колле́га (comrade, companion, associate) · uk рове́сниця (someone of same age) · sh вршња̀киња (someone of same age) · pl kolega (comrade, companion, associate) · mi aropā (someone or something of equal level) · ko 동년배 (someone of same age) · enm per (someone or something of equal level) · pl jednolatka (someone of same age) · de Edelmann (noble) · tr asilzâde (noble) · ko 또래 (someone of same age) · sh vr̀šnjāk (someone or something of equal level) · de Adelige (noble) · pl rówieśnica (someone of same age) · ga comhaois (someone of same age) · it uguali (comrade, companion, associate) · sl vrstnica (someone of same age) · de Gleichaltriger (someone of same age) · de Ebenbürtiger (someone or something of equal level) · sv gelike (someone or something of equal level) · ru рове́сница (someone of same age) · pl rówieśniczka (someone of same age)
From Middle English per, pere, from Anglo-Norman peir, Old French per, from Latin pār. Doublet of pair and par.
Meanings
To make equal in rank.
Being now Peered with the Lord Chancellor, and the Earl of Essex. 1670, Peter Heylyn, Aerius Redivivus:
(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.
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
peering
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
peers
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
peered
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
peered
Tense=Past
lexicographic
peer en · NOUN · etymology 3
Pronunciation
pîr (General-American)
/pi.ɚ/ (General-American)
/piː.ə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
pee + -er
Meanings
(informal) Someone who pees, someone who urinates.
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 rec.pets.dogs.behavior (Usenet):
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):