pair

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Two alike or identical things taken together

   Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of.

   • Ting, ting, ting! went the bell again. Every body sat down; the curtain shook, rose sufficiently high to display several pair of yellow boots paddling about, and there it remained.
   • Day after day, with the stamp and shuffle of sixty pair of bare feet behind me, each pair under a 60-lb. load.
   • So, one evening, I made a speech in English with gestures, not one of which was lost to the sixty pairs of eyes before me, and the next morning I started the hammock off in front all right.
2. 2

   Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.

   • Spouses should make a great pair.
3. 3

   Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such…

   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
4. ›+ 21 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      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.
   2. 5

      A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a…

      A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.

   3. 6

      A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.

   4. 7

      A double play, two outs recorded in one play.

      • They turned a pair to end the fifth.
   5. 8

      A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams.

      • The Pirates took a pair from the Phillies.
   6. 9

      A boat for two sweep rowers.

   7. 10

      A pair of breasts.

      • She's got a gorgeous pair.
   8. 11

      A pair of testicles.

      • Grow a pair, mate.
   9. 12

      The exclusion of one member of a parliamentary party from a vote, if a member of the…

      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.

   10. 13

       Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually…

       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.
       • One-line business is optional; three-line business compulsory; when it's two lines you have to be on parade unless you have secured a 'pair' and cleared it with the 'pairing whip'.
   11. 14

       A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together

       A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.

       • Thou lieſt; I ha’ nothing buy my ſkin, / And my cloaths; my ſword here, and my ſelf; / Two Crowns in my pocket; two pair of Cards; / And three falſe Dice: I can ſwim like a fiſh / Raſcal, nothing to hinder me.
       • 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.
   12. 15

       In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to…

       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.

   13. 16

       To group into one or more sets of two.

       • The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party.
       • Brown as I am, an Ethiopian dame / Inspired young Perseus with a gen’rous flame; / Turtles and doves of diff’ring hues unite, / And glossy jet is paired with shining white.
   14. 17

       to link two electronic devices wirelessly together, especially through a protocol such as…

       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.
       • 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.
   15. 18

       To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.

   16. 19

       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 […]
   17. 20

       To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular…

       To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.

   18. 21

       To suit

       To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.

   19. 22

       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.
       • 'No faith so fast', quoth she, 'but flesh does pair'
   20. 23

       To become worse, to deteriorate.

   21. 24

       A surname.

The neighborhood

• synonymduotwo objects in a group
• synonymdyad
• synonymcouple
• synonymbrace
• synonymtwosome
• synonymduplet
• neighborparity
• neighborcouple