Peer

/pɪə/ · verb

Meaning

(intransitive) To look with difficulty, or as if searching for something..

Definitions by Sense

1. (intransitive) To look with difficulty, or as if searching for something.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To come in sight; to appear.
3. A look; a glance.
4. Somebody who is, or something that is, at a level or of a value equal (to that of something else).
5. Someone who is approximately the same age (as someone else).
6. A noble with a title, i.e., a peerage, and in times past, with certain rights and privileges not enjoyed by commoners.
7. A comrade; a companion; an associate.
8. To make equal in rank.

Example Sentences

As if thro’ a dungeon grate he peer’d With broad and burning face.

[…] I should be still / Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind, / Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads;

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.

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.

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.

And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, / So honour peereth in the meanest habit.

I, I, let you alone, cunning Artificer! / See, hovv his gorget peeres aboue his govvne; / To tell the people, in vvhat danger he vvas.

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 […]

Synonyms for peer

Antonyms for peer

Related Words

Word Forms

• peers
• peering
• peered
• pire
• pyre

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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