peer of the realm
Noun

peer of the realm

  1. (UK) Any member of the House of Lords who is not a life peer.
  2. (UK, historical) Any member of the hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, (chiefly) of the Kingdom of England.
    • circa 1591 William Shakespeare, The ſecond Part of Henry the Sixt, with the death of the Good Duke Humfrey, iv. vii. 117
      The proudest Peere in the Realme shall not weare a head on his shoulders vnlesse he pay me tribute.
    • 1707, John Chamberlayne, Angliæ Notitia 22nd ed., iii. iii. 276
      All Peers of the Realm being look'd on as the King's Hereditary constant Counsellors.
  3. Any similar member of the nobility of other kingdoms.



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