to look curiously or searchingly, esp at something difficult to discernto be partially visible; to peep [perhaps by shortening and alteration from appear]
a duke, marquess, earl, viscount, or baron of the British nobility The House of Peers made no pretence to intellectual eminence or scholarship sublime — W S Gilberta person who belongs to the same group in society as another, as esp determined by age, grade, or statuswithout peer unequalled [Middle English from Old French per equal, one's equal, from Latin par]