pair

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See also: Pair

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English paire, from Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of pār.

Pronunciation

Noun

pair (plural pairs or pair)

  1. Two similar or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
    I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair.
  2. Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.
    Spouses should make a great pair.
  3. Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only)
    a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans
  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.
  5. (card games) A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
  6. (cricket) A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.
    Synonyms: pair of spectacles, spectacles
  7. (baseball, informal) A double play, two outs recorded in one play.
    They turned a pair to end the fifth.
  8. (baseball, informal) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams
    The Pirates took a pair from the Phillies.
  9. (rowing) A boat for two sweep rowers.
  10. (slang) A pair of breasts
    She's got a gorgeous pair.
  11. (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.
  12. 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.
  13. (archaic) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.
  14. (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
Derived terms
Terms derived from pair (noun, etym. 1)

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Translations
baseball: two outs recorded in one play — see double play
baseball: doubleheader — see doubleheader
number of things resembling one another, or belonging together — see set
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

pair (third-person singular simple present pairs, present participle pairing, simple past and past participle paired)

  1. (transitive) To group into one or more sets of two.
    The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party.
    • a. 1744, Alexander Pope, “Sappho to Phaon”, in John Wilson Croker, editor, The Works of Alexander Pope, new edition, volume I, J. Murray, published 1871, pages 94–95:
      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.
    • 2015, Microsoft, “How-to: Keyboards”, in http://www.microsoft.com‎[1], retrieved 2015-02-21:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
  3. (politics, slang) To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
  4. (intransitive) To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.
    • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert, 2nd edition, Jacob Tonson, published 1714, page 46:
      My Heart was made to fit and pair with thine, / Simple and plain, and fraught with artleſs Tenderneſs; / Form’d to receive one Love, and only one, / But pleas’d and proud, and dearly fond of that, / It knows not what there can be in Variety, / And would not if it could.
Derived terms
Terms derived from pair (verb, etym. 1)

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See also

Poker hands in English · poker hands (layout · text)
high card pair two pair three of a kind straight
flush full house four of a kind straight flush royal flush
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)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To impair, to make worse.
    • Lua error in Module:quote at line 2571: Unrecognized value 'translation' for type=; possible values are book,journal
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Innouations”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 140:
      It were good therefore, that Men in their Innouations, would follow the Example of Time it ſelfe ; which indeed Innouateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees, ſcarce to be perceiued : For otherwiſe, whatſoeuer is New, is vnlooked for ; And euer it mends Some, and paires Other […]
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)
  2. (obsolete, intransitive) To become worse, to deteriorate.

Anagrams

Catalan

Pronunciation

Verb

pair (first-person singular present paeixo, first-person singular preterite paí, past participle paït)

  1. to digest
    Synonym: digerir
  2. to handle, to cope with

Conjugation

Template:ca-conj-ir

Further reading

French

Etymology

From Latin pār (“equal”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

pair (feminine paire, masculine plural pairs, feminine plural paires)

  1. (of a number) even
    Antonym: impair

Noun

pair m (plural pairs)

  1. A peer, high nobleman/vassal (as in peer of the realm)

Antonyms

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

pair

  1. Alternative form of paire

Romansch

Alternative forms

  • (Sursilvan, Sutsilvan) pér
  • (Surmiran) peir

Etymology

From Latin pirum.

Noun

pair m (plural pairs)

  1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) pear
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