The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 1 plus 4 letter word LIVE LIKE A LORD
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
L
I
V
E
L
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K
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A
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D
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "what our peers do" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case what our peers do = live like a lord.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.