Sekirov Dictionary

pair

UK /pɛə/US /pɛɹ/

noun 16
verb 8
forms 3
phrases 7

noun16

•
a set of two matching things that are meant to be used together
- I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair.
•
A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.
- A pair is harder to drive than two mounts with separate riders.
A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
•
(informal) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams.
- The Pirates took a pair from the Phillies.
•
(slang) A pair of breasts.
- She's got a gorgeous pair.
•
(slang) A pair of testicles.
- Grow a pair, mate.
•
Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts).
- a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans
•
Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.
- Spouses should make a great pair.
•
One of the constituent items that make up a pair.
- [S]he had finished the second sock, and pulled its pair out of the bag before handing them to her husband. — 1992
(Australia) 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.
A boat for two sweep rowers.
•
(informal) A double play, two outs recorded in one play.
- They turned a pair to end the fifth.
A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.
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.
•
(no longer used) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.
- It would never do, you know, for me to be plunging myself into poverty and shabbiness and love in one room up three pair of stairs, and all that sort of thing. — 1842

verb8

•
To group into one or more sets of two.
- The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party.
•
to link two electronic devices wirelessly together, especially through a protocol such as Bluetooth.
- It was not possible to pair my smartphone with an incompatible smartwatch.
To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
•
To come together for mating.
- The raven, in short, when he pairs, which he does at the earliest moment permitted by the laws of ravendom, pairs for life […] — 1883
To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.
To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
•
(no longer used) To impair, to make worse.
- Why dreghis þou þis dole, & deris þi seluyn? / Lefe of þis Langore, as my lefe brother, / Þat puttes þe to payne and peires þi sight. — 1869
(no longer used) To become worse, to deteriorate.

forms

paired · pairing · pairs

Phrases with pair

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