noun
-
the wife or widow of a peer
-
a woman holding the rank of a peer in her own right
Gender
See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of peeress
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
However, on her appointment as minister for Europe, she became a peeress in her own right.
From BBC • Dec. 3, 2023
Which explains how the Mayfair peeress who asked me for cocktails one day has a villa packed with Vieux Paris silver-plate and Louis XVI armchairs covered in needlepoint scenes from La Fontaine’s “Fables.”
From New York Times • May 20, 2011
Thatcher, who felt that Soames had ineptly handled a three-week civil servant strike, replaced him with Baroness Young, a life peeress and a personal friend, who becomes the first woman to hold the job.
From Time Magazine Archive
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With due appreciation to the Queen, Nancy Astor said: "I hope they will create me a lifetime peeress!"
From Time Magazine Archive
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"She knows that you are a peer of England, and that she is a peeress."
From Davenport Dunn, Volume 2 (of 2) A Man Of Our Day by Lever, Charles James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.