Part 149

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 v. t. To make equal in rank. [R.] Heylin.

Peer v. t. To be, or to assume to be, equal. [R.]

Peer"age (?), n. [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.

Peer"dom (?), n. Peerage; also, a lordship. [Obs.]

Peer"ess, n. The wife of a peer; a woman ennobled in her own right, or by right of marriage.

{ Peer"ie, Peer"y } (?), a. [See 1st Peer, 2.] Inquisitive; suspicious; sharp. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.] "Two peery gray eyes." Sir W. Scott.

Peer"less (?), a. Having no peer or equal; matchless; superlative. "Her peerless feature." Shak.

Unvailed her peerless light.

Milton.

--Peer"less*ly, adv. -- Peer"less*ness, n.

Peert (?), a. Same as Peart.

Peer"weet (?), n. Same as Pewit (a & b).

Pee"vish (?), a. [OE. pevische; of uncertain origin, perh. from a word imitative of the noise made by fretful children + -ish.] 1. Habitually fretful; easily vexed or fretted; hard to please; apt to complain; querulous; petulant. "Her peevish babe." Wordsworth.

She is peevish, sullen, froward.