peer of the realm

English

Noun

peer of the realm (plural peers 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.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], line 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 edition, 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.