English Online Dictionary. What means pair? What does pair mean?
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English paire, from Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of pār.
Pronunciation
- enPR: pâr, IPA(key): /pɛə(ɹ)/
- Rhymes: -ɛə(r)
- Homophones: pare, pear
Noun
pair (plural pairs or pair)
- Two similar or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
- Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.
- Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only)
- A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.
- (card games) A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
- (cricket) A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match
- (baseball, informal) A double play, two outs recorded in one play
- (baseball, informal) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams
- (rowing) A boat for two sweep rowers.
- (slang) A pair of breasts
- (Australia, politics) The exclusion of one member of a parliamentary party from a vote, if a member of the other party is absent for important personal reasons.
- Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time.
- There were two pairs on the final vote.
- (archaic) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.
- (kinematics) In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion; named in accordance with the motion it permits, as in turning pair, sliding pair, twisting pair.
Usage notes
In older texts like "A Key to Joyce's Arithmetic" (1808), the plural form for the word pair is pair, but the tendency, these days, is to use the form pairs to mark plurality. That is, a native English speaker, back in the early 19th century, would say 20 pair of shoes, as opposed to today's 20 pairs of shoes. But still, both forms are correct, even though the former is quite archaic.
Synonyms
- (two objects in a group): duo, dyad, couple, brace, twosome, duplet; see also Thesaurus:duo
- (pair of breasts): See also Thesaurus:breasts
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
pair (third-person singular simple present pairs, present participle pairing, simple past and past participle paired)
- (transitive) To group into one or more sets of two.
-
- If your computer has a built-in, non-Microsoft transceiver, you can pair the device directly to the computer by using your computer’s Bluetooth software configuration program but without using the Microsoft Bluetooth transceiver.
- (transitive) To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
- (politics, slang) To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
- (intransitive) To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.
Derived terms
Related terms
- parity
See also
- couple
Translations
Etymology 2
Etymology
From Middle English pairen, peiren, shortened form of apeiren, empeiren, from Old French empeirier, empoirier, from Late Latin peiōrō.
Verb
pair (third-person singular simple present pairs, present participle pairing, simple past and past participle paired)
- (obsolete, transitive) To impair, to make worse.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)
- (obsolete, intransitive) To become worse, to deteriorate.
Anagrams
- PIRA, RIPA, pari-, raip
Catalan
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Central) IPA(key): /pəˈi/
- (Valencian) IPA(key): /paˈiɾ/
- Rhymes: -i(ɾ)
Verb
pair (first-person singular present paeixo, past participle paït)
- to digest
- Synonym: digerir
- to handle, to cope with
Conjugation
Further reading
- “pair” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “pair” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
- “pair” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “pair” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
French
Etymology
From Latin pār (“equal”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pɛʁ/
Adjective
pair (feminine singular paire, masculine plural pairs, feminine plural paires)
- (of a number) even
- Antonym: impair
Related terms
- parité
Noun
pair m (plural pairs)
- A peer, high nobleman/vassal (as in peer of the realm)
Antonyms
- pari m
Further reading
- “pair” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Anagrams
- pari, pria, ripa
Middle English
Noun
pair
- Alternative form of paire
Romansch
Alternative forms
- (Sursilvan, Sutsilvan) pér
- (Surmiran) peir
Etymology
From Latin pirum.
Noun
pair m (plural pairs)
- (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) pear
Related terms
- paira
- pairer