English Online Dictionary. What means pair? What does pair mean?
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pâr, IPA(key): /pɛə(ɹ)/
- (General American) enPR: pâr, IPA(key): /pɛɹ/
- Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
- Homophones: pare, pear
Etymology 1
From Middle English paire, from Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of pār.
Noun
pair (plural pairs or (archaic or dialectal) 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, except in some technical contexts)
- 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.
- Synonyms: pair of spectacles, spectacles
- (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
The usual plural of pair is pairs. This is a recent innovation; the plural pair was formerly predominant and may be found in older texts like "A Key to Joyce's Arithmetic" (compare Middle English paire, plural paire). 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. In colloquial or dialectal speech, forms such as 20 pair may still be found; because of their relegation to informal speech, they are now sometimes proscribed.
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
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.
- Template:RQ:Fairy
- (obsolete, intransitive) To become worse, to deteriorate.
Anagrams
- PIRA, RIPA, 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
Derived terms
- aller de pair
- nombre pair
Related terms
- parité
Noun
pair m (plural pairs)
- A peer, high nobleman/vassal (as in peer of the realm)
Derived terms
- hors pair
Antonyms
- pari m
Further reading
- “pair” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Anagrams
- pari, pria, ripa
Louisiana Creole French
Etymology
From French peur (“fear”), compare Haitian Creole pè.
Verb
pair
- to be afraid
References
- Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales
Middle English
Noun
pair
- Alternative form of paire
Romanian
Etymology
From French pair.
Noun
pair m (plural pairi)
- peer (noble)
Declension
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
Welsh
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pai̯r/
Etymology 1
From Proto-Celtic *kʷaryos. Cognate with Irish coire.
Noun
pair m (plural peiri or peirau)
- cauldron, boiler
- furnace
Derived terms
- peiran
- peiriaid
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the main entry.
Verb
pair
- (literary) third-person singular present indicative/future of peri
Mutation
References
- R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “pair”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies