The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Peon \Pe"on\, n. [Sp. peon, or Pg. pe?o, one who travels on
   foot, a foot soldier, a pawn in chess. See Pawn in chess.]
   1. A foot soldier; a policeman; also, an office attendant; a
      messenger. [India]
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A day laborer; a servant; especially, in some of the
      Spanish American countries, debtor held by his creditor in
      a form of qualified servitude, to work out a debt.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Chess) See 2d Pawn.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Peon \Pe"on\, n.
   See Poon.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Poon \Poon\, n. [Canarese ponne.]
   A name for several East Indian, or their wood, used for the
   masts and spars of vessels, as Calophyllum angustifolium,
   Calophyllum inophullum, and Sterculia f[oe]tida; --
   called also peon.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

peon
    n 1: a laborer who is obliged to do menial work [syn: drudge,
         peon, navvy, galley slave]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

89 Moby Thesaurus words for "peon":
   apple-polisher, ass-licker, backscratcher, backslapper, bondmaid,
   bondman, bondslave, bondsman, bondswoman, bootlick, bootlicker,
   brown-nose, brownie, captive, chattel, chattel slave, churl,
   clawback, concubine, countryman, countrywoman, courtier, creature,
   cringer, debt slave, dependent, dray horse, drudge, dupe, fawner,
   fellah, feudatory, flatterer, flunky, follower, footlicker,
   galley slave, groveler, handshaker, hanger-on, helot, hind,
   homager, inferior, instrument, jackal, kowtower, lackey,
   led captain, lickspit, lickspittle, liege, liege man,
   liege subject, mealymouth, minion, muzhik, myrmidon, odalisque,
   peasant, provincial, puppet, retainer, serf, servant, slave,
   slavey, spaniel, stooge, subject, subordinate, suck, sycophant,
   theow, thrall, timeserver, toad, toady, toiler, tool, truckler,
   tufthunter, underling, understrapper, vassal, villein, workhorse,
   yeoman, yes-man



The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

peon
 n.

    A person with no special (root or wheel) privileges on a computer
    system. ?I can't create an account on foovax for you; I'm only a peon
    there.?


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

peon

    A person with no special (root or wheel)
   privileges on a computer system.  "I can't create an account
   on foovax for you; I'm only a peon there."

   [Jargon File]

   (2001-12-23)