compeer

From Middle English comper, from Middle French comper, from Latin compater, compatrem. Doublet of compere as well as compadre and goombah. Influenced by folk-etymological analysis as com- +‎ peer.

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɪə(ɹ)/, /kɒmˈpɪə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

compeer (plural compeers)

1. (obsolete) The equal or peer of someone else; a close companion or associate.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. , London: ">…] , and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     And him thus answer'd soon his bold compeer.

   • 1831, L E L, Romance and Reality.  In Three Volumes.">…], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, , →OCLC, pages 155–156:

     She had fallen into the common error of supposing that the author must personify his works, and that his conversation must be copy and compeer of his writings.

compeer (third-person singular simple present compeers, present participle compeering, simple past and past participle compeered)

1. To be equal with; to match.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     In my rights, / By me invested, he compeers the best.

• Compere, compere, compère, precome