Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The rank, title, or jurisdiction of a peer or peeress; a duchy, marquisate, county, viscountcy, or barony.
- noun Peers and peeresses considered as a group.
- noun A book listing peers, peeresses, and their families.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The rank or dignity of a peer.
- noun The body of peers.
- noun [capitalized] A book containing a detailed historical and genealogical account of the peers and their connections: as, Burke's “Peerage.”
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The rank or dignity of a peer.
- noun The body of peers; the nobility, collectively.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Peers as a group; thenobility ,aristocracy . - noun The
rank or title of apeer orpeeress . - noun A
book listing such people and theirfamilies .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the peers of a kingdom considered as a group
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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France which we call the peerage, and his intelligent legs rest on the velvet benches of the Luxembourg.
The Essays of "George Eliot" Complete George Eliot 1849
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January 6th, 2010 at 2: 51 pm psuedononymous in nc: And things in America would be quite a bit more difficult, since it would require a Constitutional amendment (3/4 of the states), and the obvious analogue to elevating Liberals to the peerage is to create new states, and you need the approval of the Senate to do that.
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If you have studied Debrett at all, you know as well as I do that the peerage is one of those old English ones which date back some six hundred years, and that the present Lady d'Alboukirk is a baroness in her own right, the title and estates descending to heirs-general.
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The Government should call another peerage into being to redress the balance of the old, and call it the Third Millennium Peerage.
John Terry’s sacking as England captain tells us something interesting... 2009
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A general who fights well in order to get a peerage is a mercenary; a general who fights for victory is not, victory being the proper reward of battle as marriage is the proper reward of love.
Loving God Happy 2007
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The Prime Minister is right to explain that a peerage is a political office rather than a conventional honour.
Cash for peerages 2007
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Indeed, it is not too much to say that for plebeian merit the only available avenues to the peerage are the Church and the Bar.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 70, August, 1863 Various
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-- The peerage is the park-paling of despotism, arranged to keep in creatures tame and wild for luxury and diversion, and to keep out the people.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 330, April 1843 Various
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He was taunted with being a willing agent of men whom he did not esteem, and his acceptance of a peerage was a never-failing source of invective.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. From George III. to Victoria Edward Farr
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Meanwhile, permit me to remind you that 'tis inexpedient to loiter in these parts, for the parson will presently be at hand; and if it be to inter rather than to marry Lord Humphrey -- well, after all, the peerage is a populous estate!
Gallantry Dizain des Fetes Galantes James Branch Cabell 1918
bilby commented on the word peerage
Really pissed off.
February 23, 2010
dontcry commented on the word peerage
HAR!
February 23, 2010
dontcry commented on the word peerage
Would "steerage" be: really horny??
February 23, 2010