pairn.¹

Brit.

/pɛː/, U.S.

/pɛ(ə)r/

Inflections: Plural pairs, (see note below) unchanged.

Forms: Middle English parr, Middle English payir, Middle English peir, Middle English peire, Middle English per, Middle English peyer, Middle English peyȝyr, Middle English peyr, Middle English peyyre, Middle English pur (transmission error), Middle English (1800s English regional (Yorkshire)) par, Middle English–1500s paier, Middle English–1500s payere, Middle English–1500s payr, Middle English–1600s paire, Middle English–1600s payer, Middle English–1600s payre, Middle English–1600s peyre, Middle English–1600s (1800s– English regional (Cornwall)) pare, Middle English– pair, 1500s paer, 1500s parre, 1500s–1600s pere, 1600s parrer (probably transmission error), 1600s peer, 1600s peory (probably transmission error), 1600s perror (probably transmission error), 1600s pyre, 1800s peere (English regional (Cornwall)); Scottish pre-1700 paer, pre-1700 paier, pre-1700 paire, pre-1700 pairre, pre-1700 pare, pre-1700 payr, pre-1700 payre, pre-1700 pear, pre-1700 peare, pre-1700 per, pre-1700 1700s par, pre-1700 1700s– pair, 1900s– perr.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French paire.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman paire, peire, pere, pair, peir and Old French, Middle French, French paire (in Old French and Middle French also peire , pere ) two things of the same type which ordinarily or necessarily are found together (c1160 in Old French), group of things which form a set (12th cent.; compare paire d'armes set of military equipment, paire de cartes pack of cards, paire d'habits outfit of clothing, etc.), married couple (13th cent.), a single thing in two pieces or two symmetrical parts (14th cent.), two animals of the same species used or bought together (c1393–67), two people united by affection or some similarity of position (1456), two symmetrical or identical parts of a body (late 17th cent.) < post-classical Latin paria (feminine) a pair (13th cent.), reinterpretation of classical Latin paria , neuter plural of pār a pair (of things or people, generally of those closely associated, e.g. pair of eyes, of brothers, married couple, etc.), use as noun of neuter singular of pār equal (see par n.¹); some Middle English forms are apparently immediately after Latin. Compare Italian paio (mid 13th cent.), Spanish par (mid 13th cent.), Portuguese par (mid 13th cent.); also Middle Dutch paer, par (Dutch paar), Middle Low German pār ( > Icelandic pár, Swedish par, Danish par), Middle High German pār, par (German Paar).Pair is now followed by of , as in ‘a pair of gloves’; but of was often omitted in Middle English and early modern English, as ‘a pair gloves’: compare pair-horse adj., pair-oar n., and German ein Paar Handschuhe . After a numeral pair was until recently frequently used in the singular form; ‘three pair shoes’ (compare German drei Paar Schuhe ). This is now chiefly nonstandard; compare N.E.D. (1904): ‘This is still retained colloquially, and in certain connections; but the tendency is now to say “three pairs”’. With pair of letters (see quot. a1400 at sense 2b) compare post-classical Latin par litterarum (frequently from 12th cent. in continental sources and from 1200 in British sources). With pair of bellows (see quots. 1412-13 at sense 3a, 1530 at sense 3b) compare post-classical Latin par sufflettorum (1356 in a British source), par sufflonum (1462 in a British source). With pair of organs (see quots. 1493 at sense 8, 1493 at sense 8, 1493 at sense 8) compare post-classical Latin par organorum (1427, 1537 in British sources). With sense 1c perhaps compare French c'est bien un autre paire de manches in the same sense (1611 in Cotgrave).

I. A couple; a set of two.

a. A set of two individual things of the same kind, that are associated or complementary in use, purpose, position, etc.Used esp. with reference to things worn or adapted to the right and left limbs or sides of the body (also colloquial with reference to the parts of the body themselves), and to other things used side by side or disposed symmetrically, as curtains, folding doors, etc.to show a clean (also fair) pair of heels: see show v. Phrases 1a. to show a red pair of cheeks: see show v. 12b.

(a) In singular, preceding the noun complement without of. Now only in abbreviated style.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun] > pair of things coupled in use

pairc1300

c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 20 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 107 (MED) Euere he hadde ane peire feteres faste him up-on.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 8013 (MED) Is chanberlein him broȝte..a peire hosen [v.r. a peyre hose] of say.

c1330 Sir Degare (Auch.) 192 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) 294 (MED) Seththen ȝe tok a paire gloue Þat here lemman here sente of fairi londe.

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. v. 256 Many a knyȝte..payed neuere for his prentishode nouȝte a peire [c1400 C text payere] gloues.

1480 Wardrobe Accts. Edward IV in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 118 (MED) A pair shoon of Spanish ledre single soled.

1796 T. Wale in H. J. Wale My Grandfather's Pocket-bk. (1883) xvii. 341 Wash given out to Mrs. Wheeler... 1 pair under stockings, thread.

1868 Queen's Regul. Army §608 The ‘surplus kit’..being carried in the squad bags,..viz.:..1 pair socks, 1 shirt, [etc.].

1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face 242 1 pair overmits..with Borg fur liner.

(b) In singular and plural without complement or with of.

ΚΠ

c1395 G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale 597 He hadde a paire Of legges and of feet so clene and faire.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 46 Som [sc. teeth] ben pares, tweye ouere & twey neþire.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 572 Of gloves white she had a paire.

?1478 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 649 ij schyrtys, and a peyer of sclyppers.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xiii. 463 Seven hundreth paris of spuris rede War tane of knychtis that war dede.

a1500 (?a1475) Guy of Warwick (Cambr. Ff.2.38) 402 (MED) They hangyd on euery swyrde hylte A peyre of sporys newe gylte.

1579 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 184 A pere of shows for the neytar boye.

1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 75 Truth [doth] best, when it is spoken out, through a paire of open lips.

1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis i. v. iii. 116 His Gill-Fins..reach to the end of his Tail, like a pair of very long Wings.

1712 E. Budgell Spectator No. 425. ¶1 Thro' a Pair of Iron Gates.

1748 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 487 He has given her a very fine pair of brilliant earrings.

1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. i. 1 The girl rowed, pulling a pair of sculls very easily.

1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim xxxi. 322 He was exchanging glances with a pair of eyes in the heap of mats.

1918 W. Cather My Ántonia i. xviii. 155 Mrs. Shimerda came over and brought Jake a pair of socks she had knitted.

a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xiii. 244 In the great order of flies (Diptera) there is only one pair of wings.

1991 Gardener Jan. 7/1 What to do with a muddy pair of wellies, is a problem faced by countless gardeners at this time of the year.

ΚΠ

1432 Bailiff's Acct., Grantchester in Middle Eng. Dict. at Clouting For clowtyng of ij peyre schon.

1482 Wardr. Acc. in Antiq. Rep. (1807) I. 62 vij pair of shoon..double soled.

1497 in M. Oppenheim Naval Accts. & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 124 Wheles in store Shodd iiij pair Bare xiiij pair.

1575 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 254 Ij paire clogg wheeles for oxen.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. ii. 16 Take note how many paire of silke stockings thou hast.

1644–5 Aberd. Acc. in Spalding Club Misc. V. 164 Item, two pair wovin whyte shankis to him, at threttie shillings ye pair, 3 lib.

1769 E. Bancroft Ess. Nat. Hist. Guiana 240 Five pair of legs..each..armed at the end with a pair of red nippers.

1798 J. Austen Let. 25 Nov. (1995) 22 Six shifts and four pair of stockings.

1826 Mrs. McNeill Let. in Mem. Sir J. McNeill (1910) vi Two pair black satin slippers.

1846 R. Patterson Introd. Zool. 47 The species..has five pair of beautifully pinnated arms.

1977 Grimsby Evening Tel. 5 May 3/6 (advt.) BMB Iron Horse, in perfect working order, with two pair of wheels,..plough, drag, [etc.].

1985 J. Simmons et al. My Adidas (song) in L. A. Stanley Rap: The Lyrics (1992) 274 Got fifty pair Got blue and black 'cause I like to chill And yellow and green when it's time to get ill.

b. In various metonymic phrases (sometimes colloquial or humorous) denoting a person or thing (thought of as) possessing a pair of the objects stated, as pair of hands, etc.pair of oars: see oar n. 3a. a safe pair of hands: see hand n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > [noun]

man1381

workera1382

labourerc1400

piner1497

pair of hands1598

operator1611

operatist1651

operative1809

operant1831

ouvrier1845

scissorbill1910

rehire1927

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Trasti della barca... Used also in Venice for the highest or chiefe place in a gondola, as we saie the cushions in a paire of oares.

1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. i. at Fenchmonth Which fee, for a paire of Wheeles is foure pence, and for Paniers two pence.

1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 592 Her enemies brought ten hundred thousand paire of hands to pull downe the wals of Ierusalem.

1844 T. B. Macaulay Earl of Chatham in Ess. (1887) 817 At every levee, appeared eighteen or twenty pair of lawn sleeves.

1966 Times 7 Sept. 2/3 (advt.) I am looking for a woman as an extra pair of hands to work in attractive Belgravia flat.

1993 Idaho Falls Post Reg. (Nexis) 17 May a1 The new bikes and about 25 older bikes..will give employees almost 70 pairs of wheels to scoot around from job to job.

c. colloquial. a different pair of shoes (and variants): a different matter altogether.

ΚΠ

1845 G. A. À Beckett & M. Lemon St. George & Dragon ii. i. 15 Dra. Should you those slippers lose? Alm. Oh! that will be another pair of shoes.

1849 T. Arnold Let. 28 Aug. in N.Z. Lett. (1966) 135 Nothing is easier than to make a beautiful scheme of education on paper, but to make it work is ‘quite another pair of shoes’, as they say in New Zealand.

1859 W. M. Thackeray Virginians II. xvi. 130 If Mr. George had been in the army, that..would have been another pair of boots.

1931 G. B. Shaw Widowers' Houses iii. 58 in Wks. Dooty's another pair o' shoes.

1939 L. Woolf Let. 23 June (1990) 419 For the Soviet Union as a socialist state I have..an affection (though not for the Governments and governing cliques—which is a very different pair of shoes).

2001 Nation (Thailand) (Nexis) 27 Apr. It [sc. globalization] has a lot to do with electronic communication... Economic globalisation is another pair of shoes.

a. Two individual persons, animals, or things of the same kind, taken together (esp. when associated in function, purpose, or position), but not necessarily forming a fixed set; a couple, a brace. Chiefly with noun complement (now usually introduced by of). in pairs (formerly also †by pairs): grouped into sets of two.Sometimes hard to distinguish from sense 1. pair of colours: see colour n.¹ 20c. pair of knives: see knife n. c.

(a) In singular and plural without complement or with of.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun]

pairc1300

couple1365

paira1382

gemels1382

pair1391

yokea1425

brace1430

binarya1464

match1542

twin1569

binity?1578

twoa1585

couplement1596

Gemini1602

couplet1604

twain1607

duad1660

dyad1675

duet1749

tway?a1800

doublet1816

two-group1901

two-grouping1901

coupling1961

c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 566 Swiche [two maidens] him serueþ a day so faire, Amoreȝe moste anoþer peire.

c1390 G. Chaucer Cook's Tale 4386 Nas ther no prentys That fairer koude caste a paire of dys.

1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. fvj A Couple or a payer of botillis.

a1538 A. Abell Roit or Quheill of Tyme f. 114, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Pair Ane pair of slecht dice.

?1578 W. Patten Let. Entertainm. Killingwoorth 12 A payre of great white syluer lyuery Pots for Wine.

1623 W. Lithgow Most Delectable Disc. Peregrination (new ed.) 172 A paire of Mulets, being tied to euery Coatch.

a1642 J. Suckling Poems 37 in Fragmenta Aurea (1646) And there did I see comming down Such folks as are not in our Town Vorty at least, in Pairs.

1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Mark vi. 13 The Jesuits send forth their Emissaries by Pairs.

1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 86. ⁋14 The third pair of syllables in the first..verse have their accents retrograde or inverted.

a1807 W. Wordsworth Prelude (1959) ix. 338 I saw, methought, a pair of Knights Joust underneath the trees.

1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice III. x. 181 A low phæton, with a nice little pair of ponies.

1873 R. A. Proctor Elem. Astron. xiii. 121 The stars of the pair are seen to circle round each other. The very fact that they so circle shows not only that they form a real pair, but that they attract each other.

1915 Our Boys Cookery Bk. 123 Bake... Place in pairs with jam between and icing on top.

1946 E. Linklater Private Angelo xx. 257 Two pairs of matched plough-oxen arrived in Pontefiore.

1987 Asian Art 1 i. 18 We catch a glimpse of him to the right between a pair of tree trunks.

2002 N. Lebrecht Song of Names ii. 38 A competition with a pair of front-row seats as first prize.

(b) In singular, preceding the noun complement without of. Now only in abbreviated style.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun]

pairc1300

couple1365

paira1382

gemels1382

pair1391

yokea1425

brace1430

binarya1464

match1542

twin1569

binity?1578

twoa1585

couplement1596

Gemini1602

couplet1604

twain1607

duad1660

dyad1675

duet1749

tway?a1800

doublet1816

two-group1901

two-grouping1901

coupling1961

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) 3 Kings xix. 21 He tooc a peyre [a1425 L.V. tweine; L. par] oxen & sloowȝ it.

1395 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 4 (MED) I bequethe to the same Thomas..a peyre schetes of Reynes.

1414 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1855) II. 172 (MED) A bordcloth, a peire towelles, a mete borde, a peyre trestelles that standys in the parlour.

1663 Inventory Ld. J. Gordon's Furnit. in J. Nicholson Minute Bk. War Comm. Covenanters Kirkcudbright (1855) Thair is in the bed, a caffe bed, a fethir bed, a pair blankets, and a red worset rug.

1876 Bazaar, Exchange & Mart 12 Jan. 74/3 Pair splendid white eyed cumulets.

1906 Springfield Daily Republ. 7 Feb. 2 (advt.) Pair gray farm chunks, 9 years, 2350 lbs.

ΚΠ

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 64 Sexe peire of synewes comen fro þe brayne.

1418 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 32 ij peire of my best shetes.

1536 in E. Ledwich Antiquitates Sarisburienses (1771) 195 Two pair of Censers, silver and gilt, of bossed work.

1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) iii. iii. 328 Seven pair of Nerves..disseminated into the whole outward Head.

1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 149 There were two organs, and two pair of French horns.

1785 H. Swinburne Trav. in Two Sicilies II. xliv. 305 Twenty-three pair of oxen were ploughing together within a square of thirty acres.

1802 C. James New Mil. Dict. at Necessaries Two pair of worsted stockings at 2s. 5d. each pair.

1871 G. MacDonald At Back of North Wind ix. 94 I don't believe there are more than two pair of carriage-horses in the whole..place.

b. Simply: two. Formerly also: †a few, two or three (obsolete). Usually with of.Now largely replaced in this sense by a couple.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > a small number of

some fewOE

puckleOE

a litec1290

couple1365

a…or twoa1400

handfulc1443

a wheen (of)1487

and odd1548

sprinkling1561

pair1611

scattering1628

sprinkle1754

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 7896 (MED) Þe king a pair o letters [v.rr. a letter, lettres] writte Did [a1400 Gött. did sone lettris to write].

c1430 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls 595 There been mo sterres, God wot, than a payre!

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xii. 577/1 Fewer by a paire of thousands.

a1627 T. Middleton & W. Rowley Old Law (1656) ii. 26 What ist to bide A little hardness for a pair of years or so.

1629 J. Shirley Wedding 1 I may be compeld within A pair of minutes to turn ashes.

1631 B. Jonson New Inne ii. vi. 159 To entertaine you for a payre of howres.

1837 W. S. Landor 5th Day's Interview in Pentameron in Wks. (1853) II. 348/2 Your mention of eggs..has induced me to fancy I could eat a pair of them.

1848 W. M. Thackeray Let. 19 Sept. (1945) II. 431 Here comes Anny with a pair of letters of w^h Minny's is the best.

1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxxvii. 477 Some say they will wait a pair of days more.

a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. ix. 219 ‘Did you say one egg or a pair?’ ‘Two,’ said Susan.

1988 Independent 14 Oct. 3/2 I..fired a pair of shots.

†c. Used as an intensifier after a noun denoting a large number. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 66 His robe..hath hewes an hundred payre.

c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) 2181 (MED) I haue in my demeyne..many thousand payre Of wommen.

c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Testament (Harl. 218) 107 in Minor Poems (1911) i. 333 (MED) Iesu..Toke out of helle soules many a peyre.

1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) vii. l. 225 Vpon the bawk thai hangit mony par.

3. A single tool, instrument, or item of clothing, consisting of two joined or corresponding parts not used separately. Usually with of and plural noun complement, as pair of scissors, pair of trousers, etc.

a. In singular, preceding the noun complement without of. Now only in abbreviated style.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun]

pairc1300

couple1365

paira1382

gemels1382

pair1391

yokea1425

brace1430

binarya1464

match1542

twin1569

binity?1578

twoa1585

couplement1596

Gemini1602

couplet1604

twain1607

duad1660

dyad1675

duet1749

tway?a1800

doublet1816

two-group1901

two-grouping1901

coupling1961

1391 in L. T. Smith Exped. Prussia & Holy Land Earl Derby (1894) 91 (MED) Pro furracione, j pair pynsons.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 5691 (MED) Out he clippeth..Hire tunge with a peire scheres.

1412–13 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1901) III. 610 1 pare belowys et tangys empt.

a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 22 (MED) The hongman..havyng in his handis a paire sharpe tangis, with the which he twitched..thare skynne.

1578 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 282 The kitchinge..A pair wyes and wyghts, ii s. vj d.

1732 Glasgow Test. (Edinb. Reg. House) LI. f. 124 Tuo pair smith tongs and a porr and Skivell.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 469 To alteration one pair trousers eleven shillings.

b. In singular and plural without complement or with of.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun] > pair of articles named in plural

paira1438

a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 90 (MED) On was a maner of sownde, as it had ben a peyr of belwys blowyng in hir ere.

a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 13 (MED) He had nothyng wherwith he myght socoure and defend hymselfe, bot oonly a paire of tanges that studyn yn the chymneth.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 182 Suche instrumentes or toles as we in our tong use to name by payres..a payre of bellows, a payre of stockes, a payre of spectacles.

1563 J. Shute First Groundes Archit. sig. Di^v Take a paire of compasses and set the one poincte of the compasses..vpon y^e line vnder the Abacus.

1602 J. Brereton Briefe Relation Discouerie Virginia 4 All the rest (sauing one that had a paire of breeches of blue cloth) were all naked.

1654 D. Osborne Lett. to Sir W. Temple (2002) 168 Did not you say once you knew where good french tweeses were to bee had[?] Pray send me a payer.

1671 Lady M. Bertie in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 23 She was so ill with wearing a paire of perfumed bodyes that she was forced to goe to bed.

1705 Boston News-let. 2 July 2/1 They found on Board a flowered sattin pair of Stays.

1745 B. Franklin Old Mistresses Apologue 25 June in Papers (1961) III. 30 He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissars.

1784 J. Cook Voy. Pacific Ocean II. vii. 351 Our new visitor had on a pair of green cloth breeches.

1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe I. iv. 78 His jaws resemble a pair of nut-crackers.

1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 82 I saw him strip off three pairs of pants.

1915 C. P. Gilman Herland in Forerunner Mar. 71/2 Broken glass will cut, though not as deftly as a pair of scissors.

1938 Life 6 June 19/1 He wants..a new pair of glasses to read with.

1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. ix. 115 Holding a very small fragment of marble with a pair of tongs in the hottest part of the flame.

2003 Snoop Jan. 65/1 Team your cotton or linen kurtha tops with a pair of distressed jeans.

c. With unmarked plural (with or †without of).

ΚΠ

1543 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 43 Iij payre of pynsowrs, vid...ij cawkers, ijd.

1558 in A. Feuillerat Documents Office of Revels Queen Elizabeth (1908) 19 viii paire of Sloppes parted, the one legge of the said blewe clothe of golde and the other of greene clothe of Silver.

1617 J. Woodall Surgions Mate 25 Two paire of good sizers for to cut haire.

1627 Brechin Test. IV. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue f. 291 Tua pair taingis with purringe ironis.

1734 in Proc. Orkney Antiquarian Soc. (1923) 1 65 Two pair of tongs..two Mashes, one small hammer.

1819 W. Irving Rip Van Winkle in Sketch Bk. i. 72 His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion..several pair of breeches, the outer one..decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knees.

1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports ii. v. 420/1 A flannel pair of drawers, two pair of trowsers, a flannel jersey [etc.].

4. A married couple, or two persons or animals analogously considered to form a unit.

a. Two persons united by marriage, betrothal, or a comparable bond of love, attraction, etc. Cf. couple n. 5a.happy pair: see happy adj. 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > [noun] > married people > married couple

couple1393

pairc1400

married couplea1625

happy couple1631

man and wife1749

Ozzie and Harriet1974

society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > betrothal > [noun] > betrothed person > couple

pairc1400

c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. x. 191 Manye peire siþen his pestilence han piȝt hem togidere.

1558–62 in B. H. Hossack Kirkwall (1900) 69 Thai..brocht ane priest to ane chapell..and thair causset do mes and marye certaine paris in the auld maner.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. x. sig. Mm3 A wanton payre Of louers loosely knit.

1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iv. i. 90 There shall the paires of faithfull louers be Wedded, with Theseus, all in iollitie.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 58 Her Husband the Relater she preferr'd Before the Angel... O when meet now Such pairs, in Love and mutual Honour joyn'd?

1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 103 Young Celadon And his Amelia were a matchless Pair.

1807 G. Crabbe Parish Reg. ii, in Poems 74 Next at our Altar stood a luckless Pair.

1870 A. B. Edwards Debenham's Vow III. xiv. 196 The newly married pair were installed in a compartment by themselves.

1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage cxv. 610 ‘What did you think of him, Mr. Philip?’... ‘I think you'd make an awfully handsome pair.’

1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Oct. 11/3 The royal pair had been participating in a kangaroo-shoot.

1989 D. Leavitt Equal Affections (1990) i. 57 Now the protagonists were clearly, blatantly pairs of women lovers.

b. Two birds or animals mated together.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > family unit > [noun] > pair or couple

couple1362

pairc1400

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 335 (MED) Of uche horwed in ark halde bot a payre.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 107 The smale foules... They peyned hem, ful many peyre, To synge on bowes blosmed feyre.

?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 3 (MED) And viij sowles þer savyd xulde be And i peyre of everich bestys.

1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 6^v There is a paire of them, Male and Female.

?a1610 A. Montgomerie Poems (1887) xli. 22 Nou hurchonis with hairis Ay passis in pairis.

a1678 A. Marvell Upon Appleton House in Misc. Poems (1681) 94 The Stock-doves..for some Cause unknown, Sad pair unto the Elms they moan.

1735 B. Franklin Reply to Piece of Advice 4 Mar. in Papers (1960) II. 24 The good Couple..like a faithful Pair of Doves.

1795 W. Cowper Pairing Time 44 All pair'd, and each pair built a nest.

1838 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 733/1 They [sc. eagles] not only pair, but continue in pairs all the year round; and the same pair procreates year after year.

1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch II. xxxv. 194 The animals entered the Ark in pairs.

1911 J. Muir My First Summer in Sierra 229 Once a pair of wrens made the mistake of building a nest in the sleeves of a workman's coat.

1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World ii. 11 Birds of a pair make a nest-scrape together.

1992 C. McCarthy All Pretty Horses (1993) iii. 175 They entered a grove of ebony trees and drove out a nesting pair of hawks.

c. Two partners in a dance.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > dancing > dancer generally > [noun] > couple

pair1696

1696 tr. J. Dumont New Voy. Levant 284 A sort of Country-Dance or Couranto, danc'd by Pairs.

1727 J. Swift Stella's Birth-day: 1724 in J. Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol. iii. 160 Merry Folks who want by chance A Pair to make a Country Dance.

1782 W. Cowper Hope in Poems 142 As in a dance the pair that take the lead Turn downward, and the lowest pair succeed.

1843 C. Dickens Christmas Carol ii. 61 Three or four and twenty pair of partners;..people who would dance.

1915 V. Woolf Voy. Out xii. 195 Any good tune..became a tune one could dance to. By degrees every person in the room was tripping and turning in pairs or alone.

1977 C. Wagley Welcome of Tears iii. 62 Two pairs of masked dancers appeared from the forest clad in..palm skirts.

d. gen. Without of. Any group of two persons or animals linked by association, as when acting as a unit.

ΚΠ

1800 W. Wordsworth Pet-lamb 14 I watched them with delight, they [sc. maiden and lamb] were a lovely pair.

1828 N. Hawthorne Fanshawe vi. 78 As soon as the pair discovered that they had sustained no material injury by their contact, they began eagerly to explain the cause of their mutual haste.

1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Coventry xii The pair [sc. horse and rider] looked what the gentlemen call ‘all over like going’.

1906 J. London White Fang iv. iv. 234 ‘It's no use, Mr. Scott, you can't break 'm apart that way,’ Matt said at last. The pair paused and surveyed the locked dogs.

1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day i. 22 I see my infant son throw his four-year-old sister a special look..as if the pair were under-cover members of some..organisation.

2002 NFT Programme Booklet (National Film Theatre) Aug. 17/1 Nigel Bruce makes a convincing, if somewhat over-bumbling Watson, and the pair continued their partnership through the whole series.

e. colloquial. In phrases.

(a) the pair of us (also you, them): the two of us (you, them).

ΚΠ

1839 J. Oxenford Doctor Dilworth 11 Pen, ink and paper, and we're a made man—the pair of us.

1853 F. A. Durivage Life Scenes 176 The vigilant officer had..a hand upon his shoulder before he could escape. ‘Now I've got the pair of you,’ said the worthy man.

1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island ii. viii. 58 Neither you nor me's come out of it with..credit. Nor you neither, says you; not smart—none of the pair of us smart.

1955 D. Eden Darling Clementine (1959) 132 They didn't get in until after midnight, the pair of them. Don't you mind, Brigit?

1990 B. Moore Lies of Silence ii. 29 You too. The pair of you, get dressed.

(b) to be a pair: (of persons) to be two of a kind; to be well matched; to be as bad as one another.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > be similar [verb (intransitive)] > be a pair or like each other

resemblec1450

to be a pair1840

1840 W. M. Thackeray Catherine di, in Fraser's Mag. Jan. 107/2 ‘I' faith, I believe you're a pair,’ said Mr. Wood. ‘Pray, sir, keep your tongue to yourself..’ cried Mrs. Catherine, with proper spirit.

1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's Last Play i, in Misalliance 178 Dora: We both get a bit giddy when we're lighthearted. Him and me is a pair, I'm afraid.

1931 M. Allingham Police at Funeral v. 69 She was a damned bad-tempered old harpy! And so was Andrew—they were a pair.

1976 ‘D. Fletcher’ Don't whistle ‘Macbeth’ 86 It's a creepy feeling... Aren't we a pair? Come on. Let's go back and cheer ourselves up.

5. Specific elliptical uses.

a. Two horses, draught animals, etc., harnessed or yoked together, usually in order to draw a vehicle.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > draught-horse > that pulls vehicle > pair of

pair1649

span1769

tandem1795

1649 Man in Moon No. 30. 242 Col. Pryde his brother Dray-man, and Justice of the Peace likewise (a payre that would show better in a Dray then on a bench).

1712 M. Pierrepont Let. 11 Aug. in Lett. Lady M. Wortley Montagu (1965) I. 151 'Tis indifferent to me whether tis with a coach and six or a pair.

1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield (ed. 2) II. ix. 137 A post-chaise and pair drove up to them.

1846 J. Taylor Upper Canada 26 Farmers' wives..enter the market with their neat four-wheeler and pair.

1863 R. Chambers Bk. of Days I. 554/2 Who would dare to call two horses anything but a pair when they are harnessed to a carriage, though they may be two in any other situation?

1871 G. MacDonald At Back of North Wind xxxiii. 329 I must have a pair to my carriage.

1935 I. Bennett Fishermen viii Their men were watering their ‘pairs’ in the burn, ere they proceeded to have their own meal.

1982 F. Raphael Byron 31 He kept a coach and pair and acquired a Newfoundland dog.

2003 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 12 June 35 I feel I'm abusing something when I enter the drive in a motor car. A carriage and pair, surely.

b. Cards. Two playing cards of the same denomination, esp. as a scoring unit.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card or cards > [noun] > combinations of cards

cater-trey?a1500

mournival1530

sequence1575

pair royal1608

septieme1651

tierce1659

pair1674

purtaunte1688

quart major1718

matrimonya1743

queen-suit1744

quart1746

prial1776

flux1798

fredon1798

tricon1798

intrigue1830

straight1841

marriage1861

under-sequence1863

straight five1864

double pair-royal?1870

run?1870

short suit1876

four1883

fourchette1885

meld1887

doubleton1906

canasta1948

1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester xxiii. 151 A Pair is a pair of any two, as two Kings, two Queens, &c.

?1870 F. Hardy & J. R. Ware Mod. Hoyle 80 (Cribbage) If the adversary were then to play another five, he would..score two for the pair.

1887 J. W. Keller Game of Draw Poker 35 If in opening a pot a player finds in his hand a pair and a four flush, or four straight, he may break his pair.

1906 J. London White Fang iv. vi. 267 Scott and Matt sat at a game of cribbage... ‘Fifteen–two, fifteen–four an' a pair makes six,’ Matt was pegging up.

1981 G. Brandreth Everyman Indoor Games 99 A player laying down a card of the same rank as the card just played by his opponent scores ‘2 for a pair’.

1993 S. Kuriscak Casino Talk 50 Split. In blackjack, making two hands from one hand, allowed only with a pair or two cards with a value of ten.

c. Politics. Two members of a legislative assembly on opposite sides who absent themselves from a vote by mutual agreement in order not to affect the outcome; an agreement to do this. Also: a given person's counterpart under such an arrangement.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [noun] > putting to vote > forming a pair to vote

pairing1772

pair1819

1819 C. Arbuthnot Let. 14 Mar. (1941) 16 It is expected of them all to be there during the whole course of every evening, & that the coming down merely to get a pair will not do.

1845 B. Disraeli Sybil II. iv. i. 148 ‘We want a brace of pairs,’ said Lord Milford. ‘Will you two fellows pair?’

1894 Daily News 11 May 5/2 Sir John Gorst..was originally paired with Mr. Robertson,..the pair being ‘off’, Sir John Gorst was available for pairing with the Home Secretary. A still later arrangement shifted the pair to another member of the Opposition, leaving Sir John Gorst free to vote.

1913 Times 20 June 8/3 The Government Whips were unable to find pairs for two Liberals who were ill.

1965 New Statesman 19 Mar. 426/2 One minister..was flatly refused a pair by his Tory opposite number.

1997 Australian (Nexis) 17 June 1 [He] had snuck in at the very last moment, leaving the Government no time to find a ‘pair’ who would drop out of the vote.

d. Cricket. = a pair of spectacles at spectacle n.¹ 7c.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > running > no score by batsman

spectacles1835

egg1861

nought1862

pair1862

duck's egg1863

round O1863

duck1868

blob1889

balloon1906

1862 Bell's Life in London 29 June 7/5 Obtained that unenviable score, ‘a pair’.

1930 Times 15 Aug. 4/2 Riley was caught at the wicket..before he had had time to avoid his pair.

1974 Daily Tel. 12 June 34/1 Engineer, looking to save his pair, would have been run out first ball if Amiss's throw..had hit the stumps.

1994 I. Botham My Autobiogr. vi. 119 Bob Woolmer..was out for a duck (and, as it turned out, halfway towards a pair).

e. Mechanics. Two mechanical elements that together constitute a kinematic pair (see kinematic adj. 1b).

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > parts which provide power > [noun] > mechanical powers > pair of

pair1876

1876 A. B. W. Kennedy tr. F. Reuleaux Kinematics of Machinery xiii. 549 If we put a normal or normally crossed pair in place of one of the parallel pairs we obtain a chain which is constrained, and which contains five cylinder pairs.

1905 A. W. Smith & G. H. Marx Machine Design i. 13 The helical surfaces by which a nut and screw engage with each other are called a twisting pair.

1946 L. Toft & A. T. J. Kersey Theory of Machines (ed. 5) v. 163 The arrangement of Fig. 102 is an approximate straight line mechanism containing one sliding pair and three turning pairs.

1975 H. H. Mabie & F. W. Ocvirk Mechanisms & Dynamics of Machinery (ed. 3) i. 9 A pair that permits only relative rotation is a revolute or turning pair, and one that allows only sliding is a sliding pair.

f. Rowing. A set of two oarsmen. Cf. pair-oar n.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessels propelled by oars or poles > [noun] > rowing boat > for specific number of rowers

a pair of oars1598

ten1642

four-oar1844

pair-oar1853

six-oar1856

two-oar1857

four1861

sixern1866

gig-pair1869

pair1885

eight1898

1885 Whitaker's Almanack 400/1 The two old Oxonians, Lowndes and D. E. Brown, were undoubtedly the best pair.

1948 Times 7 Aug. 2/2 Everyone was delighted when the Australian coxswainless pair won their heat.

1987 Toronto Star (Nexis) 30 June f7 Duncan and Cookson were cast together as the junior national cox pair.

g. In plural. Sport and Games. A competition, match, etc., contested by pairs of players.Originally in Rowing (cf. sense 5f).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > types of

all comersc1450

after-gamea1500

fore-game1594

revenge1616

plate1639

set-to1743

return match1753

bye1754

scrub-race1791

anybody's game (also race, match)1826

return1834

barney1843

bonspiel1858

handicap1861

pennant1865

home-and-home1868

benefit match1871

run-off1873

international1877

American tournament1878

Grand Prix1879

single1884

friendly1885

all-comers1889

pair1890

championship1893

round robin1894

replay1895

Olympiad1896

junior varsity1902

lightning tournament1903

rematch1903

road trip1903

pickup1905

freestyle1906

marathon1908

test1908

Derby1909

scrimmage1910

eliminator1911

twosome1911

triala1914

quadrangular1916

slug-fest1916

varsity match1921

needle contest1922

curtain jerker1923

needle match1923

open1926

needle fight1927

knock-out1928

shirt1930

masters1933

pro-amateur1934

tune-up1934

World Cup1934

pro-am1937

state1941

sizzler1942

runathon1943

mismatch1954

run-out1955

match-up1959

squeaker1961

triple-header1961

Super Bowl1967

invitational1968

needle game1970

major1976

slobberknocker1986

1890 Whitaker's Almanack 590/2 Looker and Clark of the Thames won the Senior Pairs.

1932 G. L. Anderson in H. P. Webber & J. W. Fisher Mod. Technique of Bowls iii. 31 In pairs or doubles, each player has four woods.

1974 Guardian 25 Mar. 24/7 It usually pays to ignore minor-suit contracts at pairs.

1987 Sc. Curler Sept. 3/3 It is our hope that as many teams as possible will enter for and participate in our other competitions such as..the National Pairs.

h. Basket-making. Two rods of cane or willow worked alternately over and under one another. Cf. fitch n.²

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from other vegetable fibres > [noun] > randed work or basketry > other parts

pair1897

weaver1897

rand1903

trac1924

slew1960

1897 A. Firth Cane Basket Work vi. 42 Take No. 3 [spoke]..bringing it down beside No. 1 and behind No. 4.., making one ‘pair’ of ends turned down. The canes forming these ‘pairs’ must each in turn be kept side by side..and held perfectly flat under the thumb till the next ‘pair’ is down.

1904 O. T. Mason Indian Basketry I. iii. 94 Two-rod foundation.—One rod in this style lies on top of the other; the stitches pass over two rods in progress and under the upper one of the pair below.

1953 A. G. Knock Willow Basket-work (ed. 5) 21 When a round of fitching is completed, the remainder of the two rods may be worked out as a pair.

1989 B. Maynard Mod. Basketry Techniques iv. 29 Pairing..is used particularly to weave round and oval bases. We sometimes refer to pairing as ‘putting on a pair’.

i. colloquial. A pair of (woman's) breasts.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > front > breast or breasts (of woman) > [noun]

titOE

breastOE

mammaOE

pysea1400

mamellec1450

dug1530

duckya1533

bag1579

pommela1586

mam1611

Milky Way1622

bubby?1660

udder1702

globea1727

fore-buttock1727

tetty1746

breastwork?1760

diddy1788

snows1803

sweets1817

titty1865

pappy1869

Charleys1874

bub1881

breastiec1900

ninny1909

pair1919

boobs1932

boobya1934

fun bag1938

maraca1940

knockers1941

can1946

mammaries1947

bazooms1955

jug1957

melon1957

bosoms1959

Bristols1961

chichi1961

nork1962

puppies1963

rack1968

knob1970

dingleberry1980

jubblies1991

1919 J. Joyce Ulysses x. [Wandering Rocks] in Little Rev. July 30 Hell's delight! She has a fine pair.

1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 174 ‘Who was that tart you had round here before?’ ‘Gloria?’ ‘Yeah. Tell you what, she's got a right pair on her.’

1999 C. Aherne et al. Royle Family Scripts: Ser. 2 (2000) Episode 6. 129 She's still got a fine pair, ol' Barbara Windsor, hasn't she, I'll give her that.

II. A set not limited to two in number.

6. A set of separate things or parts collectively forming a whole, as a set of clothes, a pack of cards, a chest of drawers, etc. Now chiefly British regional and Irish English (northern) Sc. National Dict. s.v. records this sense as still in use with reference to cards in Selkirkshire in 1965.

ΚΠ

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 258 Þet on wyfman ssel habbe uor hare body ine one yere zuo uele payre of robes.

c1395 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 1741 His felawe hadde..A peyre of tables al of yuory And a poyntel polysshed fetisly.

1415 in F. A. Page-Turner Bedfordshire Wills (1914) 26 (MED) Item, a pair of keruynge knyues, iiij in a sheth.

1426–7 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 8 Certeyns maffaisours..þe seyd John Grys..by þe space of a myle to a peyre galwes ledden.

c1450 (a1425) Metrical Paraphr. Old Test. (Selden) 12411 (MED) Naman ordand..Ten payr of garmentes.

a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vii. iv. 74 Apoune the postis also mony ane payr Off harnes hang.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 182 Vnes cartes, a payre of cardes to playe with.

1578 J. Stockwood Serm. Barthelmew Day 142 They perfectlye can telle howe manye spottes there be in a payre of Cardes..when as they scarce reade a leafe of the Bible.

1613 J. Saris Voy. Japan 4 Apr. (1900) 48 He came to buy a paire of Cardes.

a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Sea Voy. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Aaaaa^v/2 I ha nothing but my skinne, And my Clothes; my sword here, and my self; Two Crowns in my Pocket; two paire of Cards; And three false Dice.

1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod iv. ii. 291 The pack or set of cards, in the old plays, is continually called a pair of cards.

1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. (at cited word) ‘A pair o' Carritches’, a catechism; ‘a pair o' Proverbs’, a copy of the Proverbs, used as a school-book; ‘a pair o' pullisees’, a complete tackle of pullies, &c.

1894 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words at Pair ‘A pair (= chest) of drawers.’ ‘A pair of cards’... ‘A pair o' pipes’... All these terms are in common general use.

1997 B. Share Slanguage 208/1 Pair of drawers,..(Ulster). Chest of drawers.

7. Originally: a set of rosary beads. In later use also gen. (chiefly U.S. regional): a string of beads, a necklace.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > [noun] > a complex whole > an organized or collective whole > number of things seen as

pair1351

set1690

the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > group > set of things to be used or made together

gang?1340

pair1351

suit1424

nest1467

cast1535

set1561

stander1578

shift1592

casea1616

set-out1806

1351 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1836) I. 64 (MED) Lego domino Thomæ..j par de bedes de corall.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 2904 A Paire of Bedes blak as Sable Sche tok and heng my necke aboute.

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. 119 (MED) If many a prest bere..A peyre [v.r. of peire of] bedes in her hande.

1446 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1855) II. 124 A pare of bedes of corall with gaudes of gete.

c1550 Auentur on Weddinsd. (Bannatyne MS.) Ane pair of beids about hir throt.

a1625 J. Fletcher Wife for Moneth i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) 47 Go get a paire of beads and learne to pray, Sir.

1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. vi. 285 Fourty paire of Chaplets.

1711 in E. H. Burton Life Bp. Challoner (1909) I. iii. 32 Ye Superiors had inculcated..ye two pair of beads to be said every week by one of ye Philosophers.

1843 W. Carleton Traits & Stories Irish Peasantry (new ed.) I. 263 A thin, sallow little man, with a pair of beads, as long as himself.

1880 J. H. Shorthouse John Inglesant xx. 267 The rich oratories..where a classic statue of Apollo stands by the side of a crucifix, a Venus with Our Lady, a Cupid near St. Michael, and a pair of beads hanging on Mercury's Caduceus.

1930 Amer. Speech 5 427 A necklace is sometimes called a pair o' beads in the Ozarks.

1944 N.Y. Times 23 June 7 The Vatican's stocks of rosaries were almost exhausted this afternoon after Pope Pius XII gave away more than 18,000 pairs.

1962 A. Jobson Window in Suffolk vi. 102 She would refer to a necklace as a pair of beads.

1993 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 21 Feb. b1 A rider on one of the NOMTOC floats lets a pair of beads fly.

8. A set of bagpipes or virginals (formerly also of organs).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > pipe > [noun] > bagpipe

bagc1275

stivec1290

cornemusec1384

musettea1393

bagpipec1405

pair1422

pipec1450

muse1484

drone1502

lilt-pipea1525

great pipe1592

miskin1593

Highland pipe1599

small-pipes1656

piffero1724

Highland bagpipe1728

zampogna1740

union pipes1788

Lowland pipes1794

pibroch1807

piob mhor1838

gaita1846

sack pipe1889

set1893

biniou1902

uillean pipes1906

1422–3 in R. E. G. Kirk Acct. Abingdon Abbey (1892) 98 (MED) j par organes.

1493 in W. Chappell Pop. Music (1855) I. 49 Delivered to a merchaunt, for a pair of Organnes 30£.

1542 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 159 A paire of virginals.

1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. 95 Al the pipes and flutes of a paire of Organs being set together.

1660 G. Mackenzie Aretina i. 24 A pair of Organs, moved with a Water-work, with which three cages of Birds, made a melodious consort.

1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 62 He's as proud of these, as a Highlander is of a pair of Bag-pipes.

1842 S. C. Hall & A. M. Hall Ireland II. 338 Footing a hornpipe to the music of a pair of bagpipes.

1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped xxv Duncan Dhu made haste to bring out the pair of pipes that was his principal possession.

1927 Times 25 Nov. 19/6 Among his effects were a pair of virginals, two viols, a cittern, a recorder, a flute, and ‘music-books’.

1998 European (Nexis) 6 July 34 The suspicious purr from last night sounds like I'm playing a pair of bagpipes in my chest.

a. A set or flight of stairs or steps; (also) a portable set of steps. Also figurative.The more recent use of pair of steps to denote a portable set of steps consisting of two joined halves aligns it with the senses in branch I. (see esp. sense 3).

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > ladder > [noun] > step-ladder

pairc1450

steps1693

stand-ladder1712

stepladder1751

library stepsc1762

high step1776

trap-ladder1855

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > stairs > [noun]

stairc1000

grece1382

grecingc1400

pairc1450

slip1480

pair, flight of stairs1556

scale1592

staircase1624

scalier1652

dancers1667

flight1703

stairway1767

apple(s) and pears1857

c1450 J. Capgrave Solace of Pilgrims (Bodl. 423) (1911) 77 (MED) Thann go we down on a peyr greces in to a chapel þei clepe ierlm.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 182 Vngz degrez, a payre of stayres.

?1600 H. Plat Delightes for Ladies sig. H3^v A maide that fell downe a paire of staires.

1628 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. xiii. sig. C10^v A Tauerne Is a degree, or (if you will) a paire of stayres aboue an Alehouse.

1684 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 14 443 Being..not able..to have past through a Gallery down a pair of Stairs into the Court.

1730 Inventory R. Woolley's Goods (1732) 11 A Pair of wooden Steps.

1755 in J. A. Picton City of Liverpool: Select. Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 155 A breast wall and pair of steps from the shore or road up to the Ladies' Walk.

1761 G. Colman in St. James's Chron. 18 June 1/2 I could as easily have scaled the Monument, as have come at the Tip of her Chin without the Help of a Pair of Steps.

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xli. 402 An old black velvet cap, which, by slow degrees, as if its wearer were ascending a ladder or pair of steps, rose above the wall.

1884 J. Eastwood & W. A. Wright Bible Word-bk. (ed. 2) (at cited word) We still speak of a ‘pair’ of steps or stairs.

1903 W. D. Howells Lett. Home v. 33 It all ended..in our finding these two rooms, five pair up, in an apartment with respectable people who are glad to let them.

1923 Times 4 Dec. 16 (caption) Mr. Lloyd George is standing on a pair of steps steadied by porters.

1928 A. E. Pease Dict. Dial. N. Riding Yorks. 92/2 Pair of stairs, the usual term for a ‘flight’ of stairs or a staircase.

1991 B. Aldiss Frankenstein Unbound (BNC) xx. 172 I..seized a pair of steps, used to reach the higher shelves; I dragged the steps to the middle of the room.

1995 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 16 Oct. 20 The lines snaked around the block and down a pair of stairs, into a large exhibition hall.

b. Used with a preceding cardinal (or occasionally ordinal) numeral to denote a window or (later usually) room located the stated number of flights of stairs above ground level (frequently qualified by front or back to indicate position within a building). Frequently attributive, as two pair (of stairs) room, etc. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator I. 15 She consented to be his, and to make good her Word, ventured her Life, by descending from a two Pair of Stairs Window.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xiv. vi. 140 That Nightingale should procure him either the Ground Floor, or the two Pair of Stairs.

1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph II. 245 Working for my bread in a two pair of stairs room.

1830 Times 13 July in Times (1930) 12 July 9/2 Some of the ‘snatchers’..attempted to gain an entrance at the two-pair of stairs window.

1836 C. Dickens Let. ?24 Aug. (1965) I. 170 His notion of the Bedroom is rather more derived,..from his own fourth pair back.

1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) ii. 11 Mr. Pecksniff..turned him loose in a spacious room on the two-pair front.

1853 C. M. Smith Curiosities London Life 360 The little two-pair back-room where we now sit.

1909 Times 8 May 10/3 Inquiry showed that he was a lawyer, rented a two pair back in the Temple, and had no other connexion with land.

1959 Dáil Éireann: Parl. Deb. 2 June 738/2 The answer to why an individual, or a family, in a two-pair back in a street like Dominick Street, is destitute while [etc.].

1960 R. Davies Voice from Attic i. 31 In eighteenth-and nineteenth-century England..the ‘two-pair back’ was the room at the rear, two flights up; and a ‘three-pair back’..was directly below the servants' quarters.

10. Archery. A set of three arrows. Now chiefly historical (with reference to the ceremonial obligations of the Royal Company of Archers: see quot. 1705).

ΚΠ

1705 Charter 6 Mar. in ‘I. Hay’ Royal Company Archers (1951) 232 Rendering..yearly, the said Royal Company, to us and our successors, one pair of barbed arrows at the term of Whitsunday, if asked only.

1713 in W. C. Dickinson Two Students at St. Andrews (1952) 81 For a pair of Arrows to him—£00 10 00.

1801 T. Roberts Eng. Bowman 154 in W. F. Paterson Encycl. Archery (1984) 84/1 In archery, three arrows are called a pair; that, if one is broke, lost, or injured, the archer may have two (the number used at a time) left of equal weight.

1890 Cent. Dict. 4235/1 Pair,..in archery, a set of three arrows.

1937 Scotsman 5 July The ‘pair of barbed arrows’ presented to the Sovereign by his faithful Archers consist not of two arrows but of three.

1951 ‘I. Hay’ Royal Company Archers v. 48 The impressive ceremony of The Reddendo—the presentation of a ‘pair of barbed arrows’ (in point of fact there were, and always are, three of these) upon a green velvet cushion.

11. Mining colloquial (originally Cornwall). A company of men working together; a team of horses or mules. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > miner > [noun] > company of miners

core1778

pair1778

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > [noun] > hybrid horse and ass > mule > used for specific purpose > team of

pair1778

1778 W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis 325/1 Pair, any indeterminate number of miners who work together in a mine in a pitch upon tribute, in a but-bargain, &c. Also, they call any number of horses, from five to twenty, a pair of horses.

1846 ‘J. Treenoodle’ Specimens Cornish Provinc. Dial. 26 (E.D.D.) Ef Franky's peere wornt drunk.

1848 S. Austral. Reg. (Adelaide) 22 Nov. 3/5 The vast heaps..are now being let to ‘pairs’ or parties of workmen (a ‘pair’ of miners generally consisting of some half dozen).

1873 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1871–3 1 202 One ‘pair’ (two or more men working in common) may be losing money.

1895 ‘G. Mortimer’ Tales Western Moors 87 My mate, who was generally in my pair, as we call a party of underground men, was given to odd fancies.

1962 O. Pryor Australia's Little Cornwall 15 It was usual for a party—known as a pare—of tributers to form themselves together to work a pitch, or portion of a lode.

Compounds

C1.

pair-case n. a double case for a watch, consisting of an inner case containing the workings and a protective or decorative outer case.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > instruments for measuring time > watch > [noun] > parts of

barrel1591

motion1605

bezel1616

fusee1622

string1638

crown wheel1646

out-case1651

watch-box1656

nuck1664

watchwork1667

balance-wheel1669

box1675

dial wheel1675

counter-potence1678

pendulum-balance1680

watch-case1681

pillar1684

contrate teeth1696

pinion of report1696

watch-hook1698

bob-balance1701

half-cock1701

potence1704

verge1704

pad1705

movable1709

jewel1711

pendant1721

crystal1722

watch-key1723

pendulum spring1728

lock spring1741

watch-glass1742

watch-spring1761

all-or-nothing piece1764

watch hand1764

cylinder1765

cannon?1780

cannon1802

stackfreed1819

pillar plate1821

little hand1829

hair-spring1830

lunette1832

all-or-nothing1843

locking1851

slag1857

staff1860

case spring1866

stem1866

balance-cock1874

watch-dial1875

balance-spring1881

balance-staff1881

Breguet spring1881

overcoil1881

surprise-piece1881

brass edge1884

button turn1884

fourth wheel1884

fusee-sink1884

pair-case1884

silver bar1884

silver piece1884

slang1884

top plate1884

karrusel1893

watch-face1893

watch bracelet1896

bar-movement1903

jewel pivot1907

jewel bearing1954

1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 183 Pair Case, the old style of casing watches with an inner watch case containing the movement and an outer case quite detached from the inner.

1924 Isis 6 124 It resembled an enormous pair-case watch, about 5 inches in diameter; it was not suspended in gimbals.

1999 Western Daily Press (Nexis) 18 Dec. 21 An unusual and collectable selection of watches includes the tortoiseshell pair-case..seen on the right.

pair-fed adj. (of an animal) subjected to pair-feeding.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [adjective] > fed > fed in specific way

pen-fedc1400

stall-feda1555

mast-fed1566

grass-fed1575

bean-fed1590

soiled1608

corn-fed1787

summered1804

pair-fed1951

zero-grazed1958

1951 Science 2 Mar. 242/2 Baldwin, Longenecker, and King..found no significant difference in adrenal cholesterol concentration between the animals ‘in the last stages of scurvy’..and the pair-fed controls.

1996 Fund. & Appl. Toxicol. 30 221/2 Pair-fed control rats were fed the mean amount of diet consumed on the previous day by the rats dosed with 40 mg C8/kg.

pair-feed v. transitive to feed two groups of (experimental animals) with a diet identical except for the item whose effects are being tested on one group.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [verb (transitive)] > feed with specific food or meal

sup1575

winter-feed1606

soil1608

supper1666

browse1675

cake1799

slop1848

mash1859

pair-feed1944

zero-graze1954

1944 Science 12 May 393/2 The animals in group 2 were pair-fed with those in group 3 and those in group 6 with group 7.

1996 Jrnl. Sci. Food & Agric. 70 468 Rats were pair-fed for 10 days with all the above diets which had been supplemented with essential amino acids.

pair-feeding n. the feeding of two groups of experimental animals with a diet identical except for the item whose effects are being tested on one group.

ΚΠ

1968 Science 19 Apr. 322 Female rats were maintained on a 8 or 27 percent protein diet by a pair-feeding schedule for 1 month before mating and throughout gestation.

1985 Jrnl. Sci. Food & Agric. 36 412 To find the true effects of dietary bean proteins on nutritional performance a series of pair-feeding experiments was carried out.

pair-formation n. Zoology the coming together of individual male and female animals in preparation for breeding (cf. pair-bonding n.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [noun] > mating

admissure?1440

mating1871

mateship1927

pair-formation1939

1939 E. Mayr in Amer. Naturalist 73 161 It is..advisable to say a few words about pair formation in birds and to classify the occurrence of unusual sex ratios according to the pairing behavior in such species.

1967 A. Manning Introd. Animal Behaviour v. 105 In some birds the female becomes dominant after pair formation.

1971 J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man xxxiv. 484 Apparently in baboons and even chimpanzees and gorillas there is no long-lasting pair formation.

2002 M. D. Greenfield Signalers & Receivers v. 242 Pair-formation in many North American firefly species is a photic dialogue.

† pair-light n. Obsolete rare a window with two lights; cf. light n.¹ 9a.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > window or door > types of window > [noun] > other types of window

loop1393

shot-windowc1405

gable window1428

batement light1445

church window1458

shot1513

casement1538

dream-hole1559

luket1564

draw window1567

loop-window1574

loophole1591

tower-windowc1593

thorough lights1600

squinch1602

turret window1603

slit1607

close-shuts1615

gutter window1620

street lighta1625

balcony-window1635

clere-story window1679

slip1730

air-loop1758

Venetian1766

Venetian window1775

sidelight1779

lancet window1781

French casement1804

double window1819

couplet1844

spire-light1846

lancet1848

tower-light1848

triplet1849

bar-window1857

pair-light1868

nook window1878

coupled windows1881

three-light1908–9

north-light1919

storm window1933

borrowed light1934

Thermopane1941

storms1952

1868 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 183 It [sc. a tower] is pierced with pair-lights first, higher with a triplet.

pair-mate v. transitive to test the sexual compatibility of (experimental animals) by allowing mating within and between each of two groups; (also) to control the mating of (experimental animals) so that each male mates with only one female, or vice versa.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > rear animals [verb (transitive)] > breed > breed experimentally

pair-mate1944

1944 Genetics 29 526 One hundred and six Azusa wild males [sc. fruit-flies] were pair-mated to standard grade 20 Wooster bobbed females.

1997 Mutation Res. 389 149 Two X-irradiated male fish were pair-mated with non-irradiated females to produce F-1 founders.

pair-mated adj. subjected to pair-mating.

ΚΠ

1985 Progressive Fish Culturist 47 21 Analysis indicated that the size of the pair-mated brood fish was associated with spawning success.

1995 Aquaculture 134 37 Lack of significant differences among the mass-spawned and pair-mated groups..indicated that self-fertilized larvae did occur among the pair-mated group.

pair mating n. the practice of pair-mating animals; an instance of this.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > [noun] > breeding from own stock > experimental breeding

pair mating1921

1921 Amer. Naturalist 55 559 Let us assume that there are involved in a given pair-mating the six duplicate size-factors..and their absences or corresponding recessives.

1968 R. Rieger et al. Gloss. Genetics & Cytogenetics 327 Pair mating, a procedure used to determine the degree of sexual isolation between two groups (A and B) of individuals. Separate tests of mating success are made for the four possible mating combinations.

1995 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 262 136/1 The average amount of sperm released by TP males in pair matings was 3.33 × 10⁶.

pair production n. Nuclear Physics the conversion of a gamma-ray photon into an electron and a positron only.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > particle avoiding strong interaction > electron > [noun] > conversion into electron and positron

pair production1934

1934 Physical Rev. 45 137/1 For energies above twenty million volts the predicted pair production is even greater than that computed by Oppenheimer and Plesset.

1958 W. K. Mansfield Elem. Nucl. Physics v. 43 The three methods of interaction of γ-rays with matter are Compton scattering, photo-electric absorption and pair production.

1986 J. D. Barrow & F. J. Tipler Anthropic Cosmological Princ. (1988) v. 297 Large..systems appear unstable to pair production, but in practice a susceptibility to fission arises at a lower value of Z.

pair skating n. ice-skating performed by pairs.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > skating > [noun] > other types of skating

running1816

free skating1902

pair skating1902

sculling1938

skeeling1969

skatathon1970

1902 Daily Chron. 14 Feb. 4/7 To this event succeeded the pair-skating competition.

1983 J. Hennessy Torvill & Dean 109 The difference between our branch of the sport and pair skating is that in between, they've got a lot of forward running and backward crossovers.

pair-toed adj. (of a bird) having the toes in pairs, two in front and two behind; zygodactylous.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [adjective] > of toes or claws > having particular type of

zygodactylous1828

yoke-toed1831

zygodactyl1831

anisodactylic1834

zygodactylic1835

lark-heeled1837

short-toed1837

heterodactylous1854

pair-toed1868

sympelmous1885

pamprodactylous1889

pigeon-toed1890

pamprodactyl1934

synpelmous-

1868 T. H. Huxley in Proc. Zool. Soc. 316 A few Cuckoos represent the Pair-toed Coccygomorphæ.

1911 Encycl. Brit. XV. 105/1 The Galbulidae have zygodactylous or pair-toed feet, like the Cuculidae, Bucconidae and Picidae.

pair work n. Education learning in which students work in pairs, esp. as a technique used in language teaching.

ΚΠ

1979 I. Dunlop in Zielsprache Englisch 9 1 Pair work, as the name suggests, means putting pupils in pairs to practise one of the following things:—a grammatical structure, [etc.].

1992 ELT Jrnl. 46 73 There is then a review section to encourage pair work and note taking.

2002 Western Mail (Cardiff) (Nexis) 5 July 5 Judges described being in one of the 30-year-old's lessons as ‘a gripping and enthralling experience, often humorous and combining innovative and traditional methods, problem-solving and pair work’.

C2. Sport and Games. In plural used attributively to designate a (player in a) competition, match, etc., contested by pairs of players. Cf. pair skating n. at Compounds 1.

ΚΠ

1912 J. A. Manson Compl. Bowler xii. 191 Let him..assume he is playing second in a pairs competition.

1948 H. P. Webber Bowls ix. 58 The pairs game..is, in the special qualities it demands, quite removed from both singles and rinks.

1958 Listener 13 Nov. 805/3 In a match-pointed pairs contest I might consider rescuing to Two Clubs.

1977 N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. i. 16/2 Among other unbeaten teams are those from Linwood, skipped by the wizard of pairs bowling, K. R. Darling.

2003 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 3 Jan. 42 Kyoko Ina..skates with pairs partner John Zimmerman on their debut tour with Stars on Ice.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

pairv.²

Brit.

/pɛː/, U.S.

/pɛ(ə)r/

Forms: see pair n.¹

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: pair n.¹

Etymology: < pair n.¹

a. transitive. To arrange (two persons or things) into a pair or couple; to arrange (a larger number) in pairs; to associate or bring together as colleagues or antagonists. Frequently in passive.In quot. 1841 used intransitively.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > arrange in pairs [verb (transitive)]

match1508

pair1578

intwin1613

fellow1654

to pair off1816

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > arrange in pairs [verb (transitive)] > people

couple1362

pair1578

1578 H. Wotton tr. J. Yver Courtlie Controuersie 118 Me thinketh..that to drawe a Cart currantly, it behoueth to payre the Oxen as equally in bignesse, height, and strength, as maye be deuised.

1607 F. Beaumont Woman Hater iv. ii. sig. G3 Vertue and Grace are alwaies paird together.

1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada ii. iii. iii. 116 Ye gods, why are not Hearts first pair'd above!

1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 24 Thus these two [sc. Captain and Lieutenant] are generally pair'd like Marry'd Couples.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 113. ⁋4 I made new Liveries, new-pair'd my Coach-Horses.

1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. xvii. 211 After four or five more Minuets by the younger Folk, the Parties were appointed and paired for Country Dances.

1841 E. C. Grey Little Wife II. vii. 61 If you go on pairing and matching in this manner..you will be the terror of the whole of the male species.

1895 ‘M. Corelli’ Sorrows Satan xi The Earl proceeded to ‘pair’ us all. ‘Prince, you will take Miss Fitzroy,—Mr. Tempest, my daughter falls to your escort’.

1933 G. Greene in London Mercury Jan. 242 The great characters of fiction are often paired: Quixote and Sancho, Pantagruel and Panurge, Pickwick and Weller, Benjamin and Peter.

1988 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 30 Oct. (Metro section) ii. 1/4 Genetic fingerprints indicated that Cuyama and Cachuma..are close relatives..but they will be paired anyway.

b. transitive. To match or combine (one person or thing) with another so as to form a pair; to match (one group) with another so as to form mixed pairs. Frequently in passive.

ΚΠ

1606 B. Jonson Hymenaei sig. C2 By this time, the Ladies were payred with the Men; and the whole Sixteene rank'd foorth, in order, to daunce.

1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 24 I can pair, with Sea-Shells, several of these Fossil ones.

1712 A. Pope tr. Ovid Sapho to Phaon in tr. Ovid Epist. (ed. 8) 9 Turtles and Doves of diff'ring Hues, unite, And glossy Jett is pair'd with shining White.

1763 F. Brooke Hist. Lady Julia Mandeville II. 37 A long procession of our village youths,..paired with the handsomest of the country girls,..preceded the harvest cart.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth vi, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 139 It is only whilst the timid stag is paired with the doe, that he is desperate and dangerous.

1881 E. B. Tylor Anthropol. ix. 223 Each warrior is paired with an opponent.

1908 J. A. Thomson Heredity x. §4. 365 Hurst paired white Angora rabbits..with ‘Belgian hare’ rabbits.

1948 Life 6 Sept. 104/2 A doubles match in which the king was paired with Mlle. Suzanne Lenglen.

1973 New Yorker 3 Dec. 68/1 (advt.) Sunbound popover, to be paired with pants.

2002 Time Out N.Y. 5 Sept. 32/1 She tea-smokes salmon and pairs it with green-tea-and-caramelized-onion risotto.

†c. transitive. To provide (an object) with a counterpart so as to make a pair. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > arrange in pairs [verb (transitive)] > with view to fitness or equality

matchc1440

pair1613

1613 Sir E. Sackville in Guardian No. 133 My lord..had not paired the sword I sent him to Paris; bringing one of the same length, but twice as broad.

d. transitive. In passive. With adverb: to be matched well, badly, etc., as a pair.

ΚΠ

1694 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in Ann. Misc. 54 'Twas then that Buffolo's ill-pair'd, were seen To draw the Carr of Jove's Imperial Queen.

1708 T. Baker Fine Lady's Airs iii. i. 27 We might unite Circumstances, and astonish the World at the Sight of a couple so prodigiously well pair'd.

1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 102 An old jolly stager..gave us both joy, and said, we were well paired, e'faith!

1832 W. C. Bryant Poems (new ed.) 164 Innocent child and snow-white flower! Well are ye paired in your opening hour.

a1882 R. W. Emerson Poems (1904) 124 Perfect-paired as eagle's wings, Justice is the rhyme of things.

1973 Times 17 Oct. 11/2 A rollicking finale, with the lugubrious Quaker lady suddenly developing a twinkle in her eye..and everyone else similarly ill paired.

1986 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 14 Dec. i. iv. 117/1 Marilyn Banks and Ralph Glenmore were very well paired as the lovers.

2000 Standard (St. Catharines, Ont.) (Nexis) 18 Oct. b1 Eggplant and tomato are not easily paired with wine.

a. intransitive. Of a person or animal: to come together with another, esp. in love or marriage, or (in animals) to mate.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity [verb (intransitive)] > have sexual intercourse

playOE

to do (also work) one's kindc1225

bedc1315

couple1362

gendera1382

to go togetherc1390

to come togethera1398

meddlea1398

felterc1400

companya1425

swivec1440

japea1450

mellc1450

to have to do with (also mid, of, on)1474

engender1483

fuck?a1513

conversec1540

jostlec1540

confederate1557

coeate1576

jumble1582

mate1589

do1594

conjoin1597

grind1598

consortc1600

pair1603

to dance (a dance) between a pair of sheets1608

commix1610

cock1611

nibble1611

wap1611

bolstera1616

incorporate1622

truck1622

subagitate1623

occupya1626

minglec1630

copulate1632

fere1632

rut1637

joust1639

fanfreluche1653

carnalize1703

screw1725

pump1730

correspond1756

shag1770

hump1785

conjugate1790

diddle1879

to get some1889

fuckeec1890

jig-a-jig1896

perform1902

rabbit1919

jazz1920

sex1921

root1922

yentz1923

to make love1927

rock1931

mollock1932

to make (beautiful) music (together)1936

sleep1936

bang1937

lumber1938

to hop into bed (with)1951

to make out1951

ball1955

score1960

trick1965

to have it away1966

to roll in the hay1966

to get down1967

poontang1968

pork1968

shtup1969

shack1976

bonk1984

boink1985

the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [verb (intransitive)] > copulate

to go to (the) bull (also cow, horse, etc.)a1393

entera1425

makea1522

lime1555

match1569

generate1605

copulate1632

fere1632

strene1820

pair1908

mate1927

to saw a chunk off1961

1603 H. Holland Pancharis sig. D2 What appetite the foule hath to the faire Is euident, for euery seely soule Knowes with perfection how things long to paire.

1617 S. Rowlands Bride sig. C3 My fathers pigeons..To paire with other doues they would resort.

1775 R. B. Sheridan Rivals ii. i There never can be but one man in the world, whom a truly modest and delicate woman ought to pair with in a country-dance.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth ii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 41 Hawks, far less eagles, pair not with the humble linnet.

1877 H. James American x. 172 If he had taken little comfort in his wife he had taken much in his two younger children..while Madame..had paired with her eldest-born.

1908 J. Davidson Testament 125 The gods have paired with women and begot Belovëd sons and daughters.

1920 F. S. Fitzgerald in Metrop. Mag. Oct. 64/3 A procession of cloaks issued single file from the women's dressing-room and, each one pairing with a coated beau.., drifted through the door.

1991 L. Faderman Odd Girls & Twilight Lovers i. 13 Many of those women paired with other female college graduates to establish same-sex households.

b. intransitive. Of two persons or (esp.) animals: to form a pair or couple. Also, of a larger number: to form pairs.Now more usually with adverbs when referring to humans: see to pair off 2 at Phrasal verbs, to pair up at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > action or fact of marrying > marry [verb (intransitive)]

weda1225

marrya1325

spousec1390

to make matrimonyc1400

intermarry1528

contract1530

to give (also conjoin, join, take) in (also to, into) marriage1535

to make a match1547

yoke1567

match1569

mate1589

to go to church (with a person)1600

to put one's neck in a noosec1600

paira1616

to join giblets1647

buckle1693

espouse1693

to change (alter) one's condition1712

to tie the knot1718

to marry out1727

to wedlock it1737

solemnize1748

forgather1768

unite1769

connubiate1814

conjugalize1823

connubialize1870

splice1874

to get hitched up1890

to hook up1903

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 154 Your hand (my Perdita:) so Turtles paire That neuer meane to part.

a1711 T. Ken Sion iii, in Wks. (1721) IV. 393 And tho' no Marriages are there, We yet may, like the Cherubs, pair.

1770 G. White Jrnl. 13 Feb. (1970) iii. 23 Partridges pair.

1793 W. Cowper Tale 15 A chaffinch and his mate... They paired, and would have built a nest.

1877 A. B. Edwards Thousand Miles up Nile xxii. 680 The pigeons are pairing; the time of the singing of birds is come.

1889 A. Austin Love's Widowhood 98 The broods of last year are pairing, this.

a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xiii. 278 After they have made some progress they pair, and the queen settles down to the most extraordinary maternity in the world.

2003 Northern Territory News (Darwin) (Nexis) 29 Apr. 24 Adult wedge-tailed eagles pair for life.

†3.

a. intransitive. To match or be comparable with. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > be or become equal [verb (intransitive)] > be equal or find one's match (of persons)

make?a1300

to meet (also find) one's matchc1300

to be matchesa1470

match1536

parallela1594

paira1616

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. i. 116 Had our Prince..Seene this houre, he had payr'd Well with this Lord; there was not full a moneth Betweene their births.

1756 J. Home Douglas ii. i. 24 He might have..pair'd with him in features and in shape.

a1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage to Land of Burns & Poems (1892) 132 I'll underlie a rightfu' law That pairs wi' heav'n's decree.

1879 ‘E. Garrett’ House by Wks. I. 52 There was no other figure which could pair with Barbara's.

b. transitive. To be a match for; to match, equal. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > make equal [verb (transitive)] > equal, match, or rival

matchc1400

to hold, rarely have, tack with (to)1412

equalize15..

mate1509

touch1530

to hold (a person, etc.) tack (to tack)1555

equal1590

egall1591

countermatch1600

to weigh with (also even with)1600

emulate1602

side1605

compeer1608

pair1619

mount1628

amate1642

to hold weight witha1643

to be (also prove oneself) a match for1712

peel1726

to hold the sticks toa1817

to bear or stand comparison with1845

see1861

tie1888

1619 M. Drayton Odes in Poems (new ed.) 304 That Shee which I adore, Which scarce Goodnesse selfe can payre.

4. Politics.

a. intransitive. In a legislative assembly or debate: to form a pair for a vote (with); to come to an arrangement not to vote as (one of) a pair (see pair n.¹ 5c). See also to pair off 1 at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

to pair off1772

pair1810

1810 G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 464 Several members had paired.

1852 T. B. Macaulay in G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay (1876) II. 352 I went down to the House and paired.

1885 Times (Weekly ed.) 6 Mar. 14/2 Sir E. Watkin neither voted nor paired on Friday night.

1945 Daily Tel. 7 Aug. 4/4 In hospital, unable to take part in the debate on the agreement, he paired against it.

1965 New Statesman 19 Mar. 426/2 It is further alleged that one Conservative, at least, saw fit to pair with two Labour members.

1983 M. FitzHerbert Man who was Greenmantle vii. 114 Aubrey hurried out to Constantinople, pairing in the House of Commons with Noel Buxton who was also bound hot foot for the Balkans.

b. transitive. To bring (one member of a legislative assembly, etc.) together with another to form a pair for a vote (also occasionally with against); to link (two members) in this way. Chiefly in passive.

ΘΚΠ

tie1680

pair1900

1900 Times 7 Feb. 10/2 Mr. Griffith Boscawen, who is doing garrison duty as a Militia officer in Malta, is paired with Mr. Pirie, who is in Spain.

1956 L. A. Abraham & S. C. Hawtrey Parl. Dict. 127 If a member wishes to be absent from the House, he may arrange with a member of the opposite party, who also wishes to be absent, that neither shall attend the House, or at least vote in a division, for an agreed time. They are then said to be ‘paired’.

1968 W. Safire New Lang. Politics 315/2 When supporters of John F. Kennedy explained that their candidate was seriously ill at the time of the McCarthy censure, liberal Democrats refused to accept the excuse because, they argued, ‘the Senator could have been paired against McCarthy’.

1997 Toronto Star (Nexis) 19 Sept. a5 Manning has refused to have his MPs ‘paired’ with absent Liberals.

5. intransitive. Basket-making. To work two rods alternately one over the other.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > basket-making > make baskets [verb (intransitive)] > specific processes

pair1901

1901 A. Firth Cane Basket Work 2nd Ser. iv. 45 Pair round once to divide into twos, still keeping the central side spokes undivided.

1901 A. Firth Cane Basket Work 2nd Ser. iv. 45 Now turn the basket upside down and pair round once, taking two lots of double spokes together each time, and keeping the row of pairing even with the edge of the weaving.

Phrasal verbs

With adverbs in specialized senses. to pair off

1. intransitive. Politics = sense 4a.

ΘΚΠ

to pair off1772

pair1810

1772 Debates & Proc. Brit. House of Commons 1768–1770 240 At dinner time many made no scruple, though the cause was not determined, of pairing off, as it is called; some pair'd off for every question in the election, others for a day, or a few hours only.

1797 T. Morton Cure for Heart-ache ii. ii. 39 Have I been buying a hundred thousand pounds worth of respect for this? Have I become a Member to pair off with my valet?

1817 Parl. Deb. 1st Ser. 744 Sir B. Hobhouse paired off in favour of the motion with General Thornton.

1866 Harper's Mag. May 805/2 This vote was given under peculiar circumstances. Mr. Morrill, of Maine, had sometime previously ‘paired off’ with Mr. Wright of New Jersey, [etc.].

1901 Times 22 June 9/2 Mr. Samuel Smith, M.P., wishes it to be known that, under medical advice, he has paired off for the remainder of this Parliamentary Session.

1998 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 29 Sept. a18 MPs have traditionally paired off to avoid skewed voting and subsequent resounding defeats for the party with more absentee members than the other.

2. intransitive. gen. = sense 2a, 2b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > go in pairs [verb (intransitive)]

to pair off1794

buddy1895

to pair up1908

1794 T. Holcroft Adventures Hugh Trevor I. xiii. 185 At night we again paired off, and I was admitted to be her companion at supper.

1799 F. Reynolds Laugh when you Can iv. 60 Spare an unfortunate country gentleman, who has no wish but to pair off with his fond turtle for life.

1803 G. Colman John Bull i. i. 12 Come, Mrs. Brulgruddery, let you and I pair off, my lambkin.

1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham I. xxi. 162 This couple paired off, and were immediately succeeded by another.

1881 Mrs. A. B. Church Cecily's Debt III. i The other guests..paired off amongst themselves.

a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. iv. 51 I suppose Ruth and Sinclair'll pair off and give us a chance.

1914 E. von Arnim Pastor's Wife iii. 28 By the end of the first day in Lucerne he was finding it pleasant to pair off with her.

1979 Nature 5 Apr. 493/2 If anything Europeans pair off with Americans rather than with fellow Europeans.

3. transitive. = sense 1a, 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > arrange in pairs [verb (transitive)]

match1508

pair1578

intwin1613

fellow1654

to pair off1816

1816 J. Austen Emma II. viii. 168 While waiting till the other young people could pair themselves off, Emma found time..to look about.

1836 ‘E. W. Sidney’ Partisan Leader I. ix. 82 The rest of the company were all paired off, leaving him in the enviable condition of a half pair of shears.

1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma xxxiii. 138 The Major..has been fidgetting about pairing parties off.

1909 Times 12 May 10/3 The poor bookworm is paired off with a dowdy secretary.

1978 C. Storr Winter's End ii. 38 She'd prompted Philip to ask Bran to keep Rosemary company... Rosemary was being paired off with him.

2000 Martial Arts Illustr. Feb. 106/3 He got a number of people out on the mat, pairing them off with an opponent.

to pair up

intransitive. To form a pair or pairs.In quot. 1920: to make a (good) match.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > go in pairs [verb (intransitive)]

to pair off1794

buddy1895

to pair up1908

1908 A. W. Myers Compl. Lawn Tennis Player 134 The prevalent custom..is for the members to ‘pair up’ irrespective of style and temperament.

1920 E. O'Neill Beyond Horizon ii. 37 Don't you think them two'd pair up well?

1937 Brit. Birds 30 267 As soon as a couple of birds have paired up, they proceed to exclude other Grebes from a certain area.

1965 D. Lack Life of Robin (ed. 4) v. 66 The blackbird apparently pairs up in late autumn.

2001 Independent 27 Feb. (Tuesday Review section) 7/1 Squaddies in infantry units have to pair up, since just about everything..is done in couples.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	pair
释义	pairn.¹ Brit. /pɛː/, U.S. /pɛ(ə)r/ Inflections: Plural pairs, (see note below) unchanged. Forms: Middle English parr, Middle English payir, Middle English peir, Middle English peire, Middle English per, Middle English peyer, Middle English peyȝyr, Middle English peyr, Middle English peyyre, Middle English pur (transmission error), Middle English (1800s English regional (Yorkshire)) par, Middle English–1500s paier, Middle English–1500s payere, Middle English–1500s payr, Middle English–1600s paire, Middle English–1600s payer, Middle English–1600s payre, Middle English–1600s peyre, Middle English–1600s (1800s– English regional (Cornwall)) pare, Middle English– pair, 1500s paer, 1500s parre, 1500s–1600s pere, 1600s parrer (probably transmission error), 1600s peer, 1600s peory (probably transmission error), 1600s perror (probably transmission error), 1600s pyre, 1800s peere (English regional (Cornwall)); Scottish pre-1700 paer, pre-1700 paier, pre-1700 paire, pre-1700 pairre, pre-1700 pare, pre-1700 payr, pre-1700 payre, pre-1700 pear, pre-1700 peare, pre-1700 per, pre-1700 1700s par, pre-1700 1700s– pair, 1900s– perr. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French paire. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman paire, peire, pere, pair, peir and Old French, Middle French, French paire (in Old French and Middle French also peire , pere ) two things of the same type which ordinarily or necessarily are found together (c1160 in Old French), group of things which form a set (12th cent.; compare paire d'armes set of military equipment, paire de cartes pack of cards, paire d'habits outfit of clothing, etc.), married couple (13th cent.), a single thing in two pieces or two symmetrical parts (14th cent.), two animals of the same species used or bought together (c1393–67), two people united by affection or some similarity of position (1456), two symmetrical or identical parts of a body (late 17th cent.) < post-classical Latin paria (feminine) a pair (13th cent.), reinterpretation of classical Latin paria , neuter plural of pār a pair (of things or people, generally of those closely associated, e.g. pair of eyes, of brothers, married couple, etc.), use as noun of neuter singular of pār equal (see par n.¹); some Middle English forms are apparently immediately after Latin. Compare Italian paio (mid 13th cent.), Spanish par (mid 13th cent.), Portuguese par (mid 13th cent.); also Middle Dutch paer, par (Dutch paar), Middle Low German pār ( > Icelandic pár, Swedish par, Danish par), Middle High German pār, par (German Paar).Pair is now followed by of , as in ‘a pair of gloves’; but of was often omitted in Middle English and early modern English, as ‘a pair gloves’: compare pair-horse adj., pair-oar n., and German ein Paar Handschuhe . After a numeral pair was until recently frequently used in the singular form; ‘three pair shoes’ (compare German drei Paar Schuhe ). This is now chiefly nonstandard; compare N.E.D. (1904): ‘This is still retained colloquially, and in certain connections; but the tendency is now to say “three pairs”’. With pair of letters (see quot. a1400 at sense 2b) compare post-classical Latin par litterarum (frequently from 12th cent. in continental sources and from 1200 in British sources). With pair of bellows (see quots. 1412-13 at sense 3a, 1530 at sense 3b) compare post-classical Latin par sufflettorum (1356 in a British source), par sufflonum (1462 in a British source). With pair of organs (see quots. 1493 at sense 8, 1493 at sense 8, 1493 at sense 8) compare post-classical Latin par organorum (1427, 1537 in British sources). With sense 1c perhaps compare French c'est bien un autre paire de manches in the same sense (1611 in Cotgrave). I. A couple; a set of two. 1. a. A set of two individual things of the same kind, that are associated or complementary in use, purpose, position, etc.Used esp. with reference to things worn or adapted to the right and left limbs or sides of the body (also colloquial with reference to the parts of the body themselves), and to other things used side by side or disposed symmetrically, as curtains, folding doors, etc.to show a clean (also fair) pair of heels: see show v. Phrases 1a. to show a red pair of cheeks: see show v. 12b. (a) In singular, preceding the noun complement without of. Now only in abbreviated style. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun] > pair of things coupled in use pairc1300 c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 20 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 107 (MED) Euere he hadde ane peire feteres faste him up-on. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 8013 (MED) Is chanberlein him broȝte..a peire hosen [v.r. a peyre hose] of say. c1330 Sir Degare (Auch.) 192 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) 294 (MED) Seththen ȝe tok a paire gloue Þat here lemman here sente of fairi londe. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. v. 256 Many a knyȝte..payed neuere for his prentishode nouȝte a peire [c1400 C text payere] gloues. 1480 Wardrobe Accts. Edward IV in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 118 (MED) A pair shoon of Spanish ledre single soled. 1796 T. Wale in H. J. Wale My Grandfather's Pocket-bk. (1883) xvii. 341 Wash given out to Mrs. Wheeler... 1 pair under stockings, thread. 1868 Queen's Regul. Army §608 The ‘surplus kit’..being carried in the squad bags,..viz.:..1 pair socks, 1 shirt, [etc.]. 1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face 242 1 pair overmits..with Borg fur liner. (b) In singular and plural without complement or with of. ΚΠ c1395 G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale 597 He hadde a paire Of legges and of feet so clene and faire. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 46 Som [sc. teeth] ben pares, tweye ouere & twey neþire. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 572 Of gloves white she had a paire. ?1478 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 649 ij schyrtys, and a peyer of sclyppers. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xiii. 463 Seven hundreth paris of spuris rede War tane of knychtis that war dede. a1500 (?a1475) Guy of Warwick (Cambr. Ff.2.38) 402 (MED) They hangyd on euery swyrde hylte A peyre of sporys newe gylte. 1579 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 184 A pere of shows for the neytar boye. 1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 75 Truth [doth] best, when it is spoken out, through a paire of open lips. 1681 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis i. v. iii. 116 His Gill-Fins..reach to the end of his Tail, like a pair of very long Wings. 1712 E. Budgell Spectator No. 425. ¶1 Thro' a Pair of Iron Gates. 1748 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 487 He has given her a very fine pair of brilliant earrings. 1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. i. 1 The girl rowed, pulling a pair of sculls very easily. 1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim xxxi. 322 He was exchanging glances with a pair of eyes in the heap of mats. 1918 W. Cather My Ántonia i. xviii. 155 Mrs. Shimerda came over and brought Jake a pair of socks she had knitted. a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xiii. 244 In the great order of flies (Diptera) there is only one pair of wings. 1991 Gardener Jan. 7/1 What to do with a muddy pair of wellies, is a problem faced by countless gardeners at this time of the year. (c) With unmarked plural (with or †without of). Now regional and nonstandard. ΚΠ 1432 Bailiff's Acct., Grantchester in Middle Eng. Dict. at Clouting For clowtyng of ij peyre schon. 1482 Wardr. Acc. in Antiq. Rep. (1807) I. 62 vij pair of shoon..double soled. 1497 in M. Oppenheim Naval Accts. & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 124 Wheles in store Shodd iiij pair Bare xiiij pair. 1575 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 254 Ij paire clogg wheeles for oxen. 1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. ii. 16 Take note how many paire of silke stockings thou hast. View more context for this quotation 1644–5 Aberd. Acc. in Spalding Club Misc. V. 164 Item, two pair wovin whyte shankis to him, at threttie shillings ye pair, 3 lib. 1769 E. Bancroft Ess. Nat. Hist. Guiana 240 Five pair of legs..each..armed at the end with a pair of red nippers. 1798 J. Austen Let. 25 Nov. (1995) 22 Six shifts and four pair of stockings. 1826 Mrs. McNeill Let. in Mem. Sir J. McNeill (1910) vi Two pair black satin slippers. 1846 R. Patterson Introd. Zool. 47 The species..has five pair of beautifully pinnated arms. 1977 Grimsby Evening Tel. 5 May 3/6 (advt.) BMB Iron Horse, in perfect working order, with two pair of wheels,..plough, drag, [etc.]. 1985 J. Simmons et al. My Adidas (song) in L. A. Stanley Rap: The Lyrics (1992) 274 Got fifty pair Got blue and black 'cause I like to chill And yellow and green when it's time to get ill. b. In various metonymic phrases (sometimes colloquial or humorous) denoting a person or thing (thought of as) possessing a pair of the objects stated, as pair of hands, etc.pair of oars: see oar n. 3a. a safe pair of hands: see hand n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > [noun] man1381 workera1382 labourerc1400 piner1497 pair of hands1598 operator1611 operatist1651 operative1809 operant1831 ouvrier1845 scissorbill1910 rehire1927 1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Trasti della barca... Used also in Venice for the highest or chiefe place in a gondola, as we saie the cushions in a paire of oares. 1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. i. at Fenchmonth Which fee, for a paire of Wheeles is foure pence, and for Paniers two pence. 1630 tr. G. Botero Relations Famous Kingdomes World (rev. ed.) 592 Her enemies brought ten hundred thousand paire of hands to pull downe the wals of Ierusalem. 1844 T. B. Macaulay Earl of Chatham in Ess. (1887) 817 At every levee, appeared eighteen or twenty pair of lawn sleeves. 1966 Times 7 Sept. 2/3 (advt.) I am looking for a woman as an extra pair of hands to work in attractive Belgravia flat. 1993 Idaho Falls Post Reg. (Nexis) 17 May a1 The new bikes and about 25 older bikes..will give employees almost 70 pairs of wheels to scoot around from job to job. c. colloquial. a different pair of shoes (and variants): a different matter altogether. ΚΠ 1845 G. A. À Beckett & M. Lemon St. George & Dragon ii. i. 15 Dra. Should you those slippers lose? Alm. Oh! that will be another pair of shoes. 1849 T. Arnold Let. 28 Aug. in N.Z. Lett. (1966) 135 Nothing is easier than to make a beautiful scheme of education on paper, but to make it work is ‘quite another pair of shoes’, as they say in New Zealand. 1859 W. M. Thackeray Virginians II. xvi. 130 If Mr. George had been in the army, that..would have been another pair of boots. 1931 G. B. Shaw Widowers' Houses iii. 58 in Wks. Dooty's another pair o' shoes. 1939 L. Woolf Let. 23 June (1990) 419 For the Soviet Union as a socialist state I have..an affection (though not for the Governments and governing cliques—which is a very different pair of shoes). 2001 Nation (Thailand) (Nexis) 27 Apr. It [sc. globalization] has a lot to do with electronic communication... Economic globalisation is another pair of shoes. 2. a. Two individual persons, animals, or things of the same kind, taken together (esp. when associated in function, purpose, or position), but not necessarily forming a fixed set; a couple, a brace. Chiefly with noun complement (now usually introduced by of). in pairs (formerly also †by pairs): grouped into sets of two.Sometimes hard to distinguish from sense 1. pair of colours: see colour n.¹ 20c. pair of knives: see knife n. c. (a) In singular and plural without complement or with of. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun] pairc1300 couple1365 paira1382 gemels1382 pair1391 yokea1425 brace1430 binarya1464 match1542 twin1569 binity?1578 twoa1585 couplement1596 Gemini1602 couplet1604 twain1607 duad1660 dyad1675 duet1749 tway?a1800 doublet1816 two-group1901 two-grouping1901 coupling1961 c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 566 Swiche [two maidens] him serueþ a day so faire, Amoreȝe moste anoþer peire. c1390 G. Chaucer Cook's Tale 4386 Nas ther no prentys That fairer koude caste a paire of dys. 1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. fvj A Couple or a payer of botillis. a1538 A. Abell Roit or Quheill of Tyme f. 114, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Pair Ane pair of slecht dice. ?1578 W. Patten Let. Entertainm. Killingwoorth 12 A payre of great white syluer lyuery Pots for Wine. 1623 W. Lithgow Most Delectable Disc. Peregrination (new ed.) 172 A paire of Mulets, being tied to euery Coatch. a1642 J. Suckling Poems 37 in Fragmenta Aurea (1646) And there did I see comming down Such folks as are not in our Town Vorty at least, in Pairs. 1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Mark vi. 13 The Jesuits send forth their Emissaries by Pairs. 1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 86. ⁋14 The third pair of syllables in the first..verse have their accents retrograde or inverted. a1807 W. Wordsworth Prelude (1959) ix. 338 I saw, methought, a pair of Knights Joust underneath the trees. 1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice III. x. 181 A low phæton, with a nice little pair of ponies. View more context for this quotation 1873 R. A. Proctor Elem. Astron. xiii. 121 The stars of the pair are seen to circle round each other. The very fact that they so circle shows not only that they form a real pair, but that they attract each other. 1915 Our Boys Cookery Bk. 123 Bake... Place in pairs with jam between and icing on top. 1946 E. Linklater Private Angelo xx. 257 Two pairs of matched plough-oxen arrived in Pontefiore. 1987 Asian Art 1 i. 18 We catch a glimpse of him to the right between a pair of tree trunks. 2002 N. Lebrecht Song of Names ii. 38 A competition with a pair of front-row seats as first prize. (b) In singular, preceding the noun complement without of. Now only in abbreviated style. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun] pairc1300 couple1365 paira1382 gemels1382 pair1391 yokea1425 brace1430 binarya1464 match1542 twin1569 binity?1578 twoa1585 couplement1596 Gemini1602 couplet1604 twain1607 duad1660 dyad1675 duet1749 tway?a1800 doublet1816 two-group1901 two-grouping1901 coupling1961 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) 3 Kings xix. 21 He tooc a peyre [a1425 L.V. tweine; L. par] oxen & sloowȝ it. 1395 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 4 (MED) I bequethe to the same Thomas..a peyre schetes of Reynes. 1414 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1855) II. 172 (MED) A bordcloth, a peire towelles, a mete borde, a peyre trestelles that standys in the parlour. 1663 Inventory Ld. J. Gordon's Furnit. in J. Nicholson Minute Bk. War Comm. Covenanters Kirkcudbright (1855) Thair is in the bed, a caffe bed, a fethir bed, a pair blankets, and a red worset rug. 1876 Bazaar, Exchange & Mart 12 Jan. 74/3 Pair splendid white eyed cumulets. 1906 Springfield Daily Republ. 7 Feb. 2 (advt.) Pair gray farm chunks, 9 years, 2350 lbs. (c) With unmarked plural (with or †without of). ΚΠ a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 64 Sexe peire of synewes comen fro þe brayne. 1418 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 32 ij peire of my best shetes. 1536 in E. Ledwich Antiquitates Sarisburienses (1771) 195 Two pair of Censers, silver and gilt, of bossed work. 1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) iii. iii. 328 Seven pair of Nerves..disseminated into the whole outward Head. 1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 149 There were two organs, and two pair of French horns. 1785 H. Swinburne Trav. in Two Sicilies II. xliv. 305 Twenty-three pair of oxen were ploughing together within a square of thirty acres. 1802 C. James New Mil. Dict. at Necessaries Two pair of worsted stockings at 2s. 5d. each pair. 1871 G. MacDonald At Back of North Wind ix. 94 I don't believe there are more than two pair of carriage-horses in the whole..place. b. Simply: two. Formerly also: †a few, two or three (obsolete). Usually with of.Now largely replaced in this sense by a couple. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > a small number of some fewOE puckleOE a litec1290 couple1365 a…or twoa1400 handfulc1443 a wheen (of)1487 and odd1548 sprinkling1561 pair1611 scattering1628 sprinkle1754 a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 7896 (MED) Þe king a pair o letters [v.rr. a letter, lettres] writte Did [a1400 Gött. did sone lettris to write]. c1430 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls 595 There been mo sterres, God wot, than a payre! 1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xii. 577/1 Fewer by a paire of thousands. a1627 T. Middleton & W. Rowley Old Law (1656) ii. 26 What ist to bide A little hardness for a pair of years or so. 1629 J. Shirley Wedding 1 I may be compeld within A pair of minutes to turn ashes. 1631 B. Jonson New Inne ii. vi. 159 To entertaine you for a payre of howres. 1837 W. S. Landor 5th Day's Interview in Pentameron in Wks. (1853) II. 348/2 Your mention of eggs..has induced me to fancy I could eat a pair of them. 1848 W. M. Thackeray Let. 19 Sept. (1945) II. 431 Here comes Anny with a pair of letters of w^h Minny's is the best. 1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxxvii. 477 Some say they will wait a pair of days more. a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. ix. 219 ‘Did you say one egg or a pair?’ ‘Two,’ said Susan. 1988 Independent 14 Oct. 3/2 I..fired a pair of shots. †c. Used as an intensifier after a noun denoting a large number. Obsolete. ΚΠ a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 66 His robe..hath hewes an hundred payre. c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) 2181 (MED) I haue in my demeyne..many thousand payre Of wommen. c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Testament (Harl. 218) 107 in Minor Poems (1911) i. 333 (MED) Iesu..Toke out of helle soules many a peyre. 1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) vii. l. 225 Vpon the bawk thai hangit mony par. 3. A single tool, instrument, or item of clothing, consisting of two joined or corresponding parts not used separately. Usually with of and plural noun complement, as pair of scissors, pair of trousers, etc. a. In singular, preceding the noun complement without of. Now only in abbreviated style. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun] pairc1300 couple1365 paira1382 gemels1382 pair1391 yokea1425 brace1430 binarya1464 match1542 twin1569 binity?1578 twoa1585 couplement1596 Gemini1602 couplet1604 twain1607 duad1660 dyad1675 duet1749 tway?a1800 doublet1816 two-group1901 two-grouping1901 coupling1961 1391 in L. T. Smith Exped. Prussia & Holy Land Earl Derby (1894) 91 (MED) Pro furracione, j pair pynsons. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 5691 (MED) Out he clippeth..Hire tunge with a peire scheres. 1412–13 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1901) III. 610 1 pare belowys et tangys empt. a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 22 (MED) The hongman..havyng in his handis a paire sharpe tangis, with the which he twitched..thare skynne. 1578 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 282 The kitchinge..A pair wyes and wyghts, ii s. vj d. 1732 Glasgow Test. (Edinb. Reg. House) LI. f. 124 Tuo pair smith tongs and a porr and Skivell. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 469 To alteration one pair trousers eleven shillings. b. In singular and plural without complement or with of. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > [noun] > pair of articles named in plural paira1438 a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 90 (MED) On was a maner of sownde, as it had ben a peyr of belwys blowyng in hir ere. a1475 J. Shirley Death James (BL Add. 5467) in Miscellanea Scotica (1818) II. 13 (MED) He had nothyng wherwith he myght socoure and defend hymselfe, bot oonly a paire of tanges that studyn yn the chymneth. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 182 Suche instrumentes or toles as we in our tong use to name by payres..a payre of bellows, a payre of stockes, a payre of spectacles. 1563 J. Shute First Groundes Archit. sig. Di^v Take a paire of compasses and set the one poincte of the compasses..vpon y^e line vnder the Abacus. 1602 J. Brereton Briefe Relation Discouerie Virginia 4 All the rest (sauing one that had a paire of breeches of blue cloth) were all naked. 1654 D. Osborne Lett. to Sir W. Temple (2002) 168 Did not you say once you knew where good french tweeses were to bee had[?] Pray send me a payer. 1671 Lady M. Bertie in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 23 She was so ill with wearing a paire of perfumed bodyes that she was forced to goe to bed. 1705 Boston News-let. 2 July 2/1 They found on Board a flowered sattin pair of Stays. 1745 B. Franklin Old Mistresses Apologue 25 June in Papers (1961) III. 30 He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissars. 1784 J. Cook Voy. Pacific Ocean II. vii. 351 Our new visitor had on a pair of green cloth breeches. 1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe I. iv. 78 His jaws resemble a pair of nut-crackers. 1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 82 I saw him strip off three pairs of pants. 1915 C. P. Gilman Herland in Forerunner Mar. 71/2 Broken glass will cut, though not as deftly as a pair of scissors. 1938 Life 6 June 19/1 He wants..a new pair of glasses to read with. 1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. ix. 115 Holding a very small fragment of marble with a pair of tongs in the hottest part of the flame. 2003 Snoop Jan. 65/1 Team your cotton or linen kurtha tops with a pair of distressed jeans. c. With unmarked plural (with or †without of). ΚΠ 1543 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 43 Iij payre of pynsowrs, vid...ij cawkers, ijd. 1558 in A. Feuillerat Documents Office of Revels Queen Elizabeth (1908) 19 viii paire of Sloppes parted, the one legge of the said blewe clothe of golde and the other of greene clothe of Silver. 1617 J. Woodall Surgions Mate 25 Two paire of good sizers for to cut haire. 1627 Brechin Test. IV. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue f. 291 Tua pair taingis with purringe ironis. 1734 in Proc. Orkney Antiquarian Soc. (1923) 1 65 Two pair of tongs..two Mashes, one small hammer. 1819 W. Irving Rip Van Winkle in Sketch Bk. i. 72 His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion..several pair of breeches, the outer one..decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knees. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports ii. v. 420/1 A flannel pair of drawers, two pair of trowsers, a flannel jersey [etc.]. 4. A married couple, or two persons or animals analogously considered to form a unit. a. Two persons united by marriage, betrothal, or a comparable bond of love, attraction, etc. Cf. couple n. 5a.happy pair: see happy adj. 2. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > [noun] > married people > married couple couple1393 pairc1400 married couplea1625 happy couple1631 man and wife1749 Ozzie and Harriet1974 society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > betrothal > [noun] > betrothed person > couple pairc1400 c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. x. 191 Manye peire siþen his pestilence han piȝt hem togidere. 1558–62 in B. H. Hossack Kirkwall (1900) 69 Thai..brocht ane priest to ane chapell..and thair causset do mes and marye certaine paris in the auld maner. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. x. sig. Mm3 A wanton payre Of louers loosely knit. 1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iv. i. 90 There shall the paires of faithfull louers be Wedded, with Theseus, all in iollitie. View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 58 Her Husband the Relater she preferr'd Before the Angel... O when meet now Such pairs, in Love and mutual Honour joyn'd? View more context for this quotation 1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 103 Young Celadon And his Amelia were a matchless Pair. 1807 G. Crabbe Parish Reg. ii, in Poems 74 Next at our Altar stood a luckless Pair. 1870 A. B. Edwards Debenham's Vow III. xiv. 196 The newly married pair were installed in a compartment by themselves. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage cxv. 610 ‘What did you think of him, Mr. Philip?’... ‘I think you'd make an awfully handsome pair.’ 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Oct. 11/3 The royal pair had been participating in a kangaroo-shoot. 1989 D. Leavitt Equal Affections (1990) i. 57 Now the protagonists were clearly, blatantly pairs of women lovers. b. Two birds or animals mated together. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > family unit > [noun] > pair or couple couple1362 pairc1400 c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 335 (MED) Of uche horwed in ark halde bot a payre. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 107 The smale foules... They peyned hem, ful many peyre, To synge on bowes blosmed feyre. ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 3 (MED) And viij sowles þer savyd xulde be And i peyre of everich bestys. 1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 6^v There is a paire of them, Male and Female. ?a1610 A. Montgomerie Poems (1887) xli. 22 Nou hurchonis with hairis Ay passis in pairis. a1678 A. Marvell Upon Appleton House in Misc. Poems (1681) 94 The Stock-doves..for some Cause unknown, Sad pair unto the Elms they moan. 1735 B. Franklin Reply to Piece of Advice 4 Mar. in Papers (1960) II. 24 The good Couple..like a faithful Pair of Doves. 1795 W. Cowper Pairing Time 44 All pair'd, and each pair built a nest. 1838 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 733/1 They [sc. eagles] not only pair, but continue in pairs all the year round; and the same pair procreates year after year. 1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch II. xxxv. 194 The animals entered the Ark in pairs. 1911 J. Muir My First Summer in Sierra 229 Once a pair of wrens made the mistake of building a nest in the sleeves of a workman's coat. 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World ii. 11 Birds of a pair make a nest-scrape together. 1992 C. McCarthy All Pretty Horses (1993) iii. 175 They entered a grove of ebony trees and drove out a nesting pair of hawks. c. Two partners in a dance. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > dancing > dancer generally > [noun] > couple pair1696 1696 tr. J. Dumont New Voy. Levant 284 A sort of Country-Dance or Couranto, danc'd by Pairs. 1727 J. Swift Stella's Birth-day: 1724 in J. Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol. iii. 160 Merry Folks who want by chance A Pair to make a Country Dance. 1782 W. Cowper Hope in Poems 142 As in a dance the pair that take the lead Turn downward, and the lowest pair succeed. 1843 C. Dickens Christmas Carol ii. 61 Three or four and twenty pair of partners;..people who would dance. 1915 V. Woolf Voy. Out xii. 195 Any good tune..became a tune one could dance to. By degrees every person in the room was tripping and turning in pairs or alone. 1977 C. Wagley Welcome of Tears iii. 62 Two pairs of masked dancers appeared from the forest clad in..palm skirts. d. gen. Without of. Any group of two persons or animals linked by association, as when acting as a unit. ΚΠ 1800 W. Wordsworth Pet-lamb 14 I watched them with delight, they [sc. maiden and lamb] were a lovely pair. 1828 N. Hawthorne Fanshawe vi. 78 As soon as the pair discovered that they had sustained no material injury by their contact, they began eagerly to explain the cause of their mutual haste. 1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Coventry xii The pair [sc. horse and rider] looked what the gentlemen call ‘all over like going’. 1906 J. London White Fang iv. iv. 234 ‘It's no use, Mr. Scott, you can't break 'm apart that way,’ Matt said at last. The pair paused and surveyed the locked dogs. 1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day i. 22 I see my infant son throw his four-year-old sister a special look..as if the pair were under-cover members of some..organisation. 2002 NFT Programme Booklet (National Film Theatre) Aug. 17/1 Nigel Bruce makes a convincing, if somewhat over-bumbling Watson, and the pair continued their partnership through the whole series. e. colloquial. In phrases. (a) the pair of us (also you, them): the two of us (you, them). ΚΠ 1839 J. Oxenford Doctor Dilworth 11 Pen, ink and paper, and we're a made man—the pair of us. 1853 F. A. Durivage Life Scenes 176 The vigilant officer had..a hand upon his shoulder before he could escape. ‘Now I've got the pair of you,’ said the worthy man. 1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island ii. viii. 58 Neither you nor me's come out of it with..credit. Nor you neither, says you; not smart—none of the pair of us smart. 1955 D. Eden Darling Clementine (1959) 132 They didn't get in until after midnight, the pair of them. Don't you mind, Brigit? 1990 B. Moore Lies of Silence ii. 29 You too. The pair of you, get dressed. (b) to be a pair: (of persons) to be two of a kind; to be well matched; to be as bad as one another. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > be similar [verb (intransitive)] > be a pair or like each other resemblec1450 to be a pair1840 1840 W. M. Thackeray Catherine di, in Fraser's Mag. Jan. 107/2 ‘I' faith, I believe you're a pair,’ said Mr. Wood. ‘Pray, sir, keep your tongue to yourself..’ cried Mrs. Catherine, with proper spirit. 1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's Last Play i, in Misalliance 178 Dora: We both get a bit giddy when we're lighthearted. Him and me is a pair, I'm afraid. 1931 M. Allingham Police at Funeral v. 69 She was a damned bad-tempered old harpy! And so was Andrew—they were a pair. 1976 ‘D. Fletcher’ Don't whistle ‘Macbeth’ 86 It's a creepy feeling... Aren't we a pair? Come on. Let's go back and cheer ourselves up. 5. Specific elliptical uses. a. Two horses, draught animals, etc., harnessed or yoked together, usually in order to draw a vehicle. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > draught-horse > that pulls vehicle > pair of pair1649 span1769 tandem1795 1649 Man in Moon No. 30. 242 Col. Pryde his brother Dray-man, and Justice of the Peace likewise (a payre that would show better in a Dray then on a bench). 1712 M. Pierrepont Let. 11 Aug. in Lett. Lady M. Wortley Montagu (1965) I. 151 'Tis indifferent to me whether tis with a coach and six or a pair. 1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield (ed. 2) II. ix. 137 A post-chaise and pair drove up to them. 1846 J. Taylor Upper Canada 26 Farmers' wives..enter the market with their neat four-wheeler and pair. 1863 R. Chambers Bk. of Days I. 554/2 Who would dare to call two horses anything but a pair when they are harnessed to a carriage, though they may be two in any other situation? 1871 G. MacDonald At Back of North Wind xxxiii. 329 I must have a pair to my carriage. 1935 I. Bennett Fishermen viii Their men were watering their ‘pairs’ in the burn, ere they proceeded to have their own meal. 1982 F. Raphael Byron 31 He kept a coach and pair and acquired a Newfoundland dog. 2003 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 12 June 35 I feel I'm abusing something when I enter the drive in a motor car. A carriage and pair, surely. b. Cards. Two playing cards of the same denomination, esp. as a scoring unit. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card or cards > [noun] > combinations of cards cater-trey?a1500 mournival1530 sequence1575 pair royal1608 septieme1651 tierce1659 pair1674 purtaunte1688 quart major1718 matrimonya1743 queen-suit1744 quart1746 prial1776 flux1798 fredon1798 tricon1798 intrigue1830 straight1841 marriage1861 under-sequence1863 straight five1864 double pair-royal?1870 run?1870 short suit1876 four1883 fourchette1885 meld1887 doubleton1906 canasta1948 1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester xxiii. 151 A Pair is a pair of any two, as two Kings, two Queens, &c. ?1870 F. Hardy & J. R. Ware Mod. Hoyle 80 (Cribbage) If the adversary were then to play another five, he would..score two for the pair. 1887 J. W. Keller Game of Draw Poker 35 If in opening a pot a player finds in his hand a pair and a four flush, or four straight, he may break his pair. 1906 J. London White Fang iv. vi. 267 Scott and Matt sat at a game of cribbage... ‘Fifteen–two, fifteen–four an' a pair makes six,’ Matt was pegging up. 1981 G. Brandreth Everyman Indoor Games 99 A player laying down a card of the same rank as the card just played by his opponent scores ‘2 for a pair’. 1993 S. Kuriscak Casino Talk 50 Split. In blackjack, making two hands from one hand, allowed only with a pair or two cards with a value of ten. c. Politics. Two members of a legislative assembly on opposite sides who absent themselves from a vote by mutual agreement in order not to affect the outcome; an agreement to do this. Also: a given person's counterpart under such an arrangement. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [noun] > putting to vote > forming a pair to vote pairing1772 pair1819 society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [noun] > putting to vote > forming a pair to vote > those who pair1819 1819 C. Arbuthnot Let. 14 Mar. (1941) 16 It is expected of them all to be there during the whole course of every evening, & that the coming down merely to get a pair will not do. 1845 B. Disraeli Sybil II. iv. i. 148 ‘We want a brace of pairs,’ said Lord Milford. ‘Will you two fellows pair?’ 1894 Daily News 11 May 5/2 Sir John Gorst..was originally paired with Mr. Robertson,..the pair being ‘off’, Sir John Gorst was available for pairing with the Home Secretary. A still later arrangement shifted the pair to another member of the Opposition, leaving Sir John Gorst free to vote. 1913 Times 20 June 8/3 The Government Whips were unable to find pairs for two Liberals who were ill. 1965 New Statesman 19 Mar. 426/2 One minister..was flatly refused a pair by his Tory opposite number. 1997 Australian (Nexis) 17 June 1 [He] had snuck in at the very last moment, leaving the Government no time to find a ‘pair’ who would drop out of the vote. d. Cricket. = a pair of spectacles at spectacle n.¹ 7c. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > running > no score by batsman spectacles1835 egg1861 nought1862 pair1862 duck's egg1863 round O1863 duck1868 blob1889 balloon1906 1862 Bell's Life in London 29 June 7/5 Obtained that unenviable score, ‘a pair’. 1930 Times 15 Aug. 4/2 Riley was caught at the wicket..before he had had time to avoid his pair. 1974 Daily Tel. 12 June 34/1 Engineer, looking to save his pair, would have been run out first ball if Amiss's throw..had hit the stumps. 1994 I. Botham My Autobiogr. vi. 119 Bob Woolmer..was out for a duck (and, as it turned out, halfway towards a pair). e. Mechanics. Two mechanical elements that together constitute a kinematic pair (see kinematic adj. 1b). ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > parts which provide power > [noun] > mechanical powers > pair of pair1876 1876 A. B. W. Kennedy tr. F. Reuleaux Kinematics of Machinery xiii. 549 If we put a normal or normally crossed pair in place of one of the parallel pairs we obtain a chain which is constrained, and which contains five cylinder pairs. 1905 A. W. Smith & G. H. Marx Machine Design i. 13 The helical surfaces by which a nut and screw engage with each other are called a twisting pair. 1946 L. Toft & A. T. J. Kersey Theory of Machines (ed. 5) v. 163 The arrangement of Fig. 102 is an approximate straight line mechanism containing one sliding pair and three turning pairs. 1975 H. H. Mabie & F. W. Ocvirk Mechanisms & Dynamics of Machinery (ed. 3) i. 9 A pair that permits only relative rotation is a revolute or turning pair, and one that allows only sliding is a sliding pair. f. Rowing. A set of two oarsmen. Cf. pair-oar n. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessels propelled by oars or poles > [noun] > rowing boat > for specific number of rowers a pair of oars1598 ten1642 four-oar1844 pair-oar1853 six-oar1856 two-oar1857 four1861 sixern1866 gig-pair1869 pair1885 eight1898 1885 Whitaker's Almanack 400/1 The two old Oxonians, Lowndes and D. E. Brown, were undoubtedly the best pair. 1948 Times 7 Aug. 2/2 Everyone was delighted when the Australian coxswainless pair won their heat. 1987 Toronto Star (Nexis) 30 June f7 Duncan and Cookson were cast together as the junior national cox pair. g. In plural. Sport and Games. A competition, match, etc., contested by pairs of players.Originally in Rowing (cf. sense 5f). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > types of all comersc1450 after-gamea1500 fore-game1594 revenge1616 plate1639 set-to1743 return match1753 bye1754 scrub-race1791 anybody's game (also race, match)1826 return1834 barney1843 bonspiel1858 handicap1861 pennant1865 home-and-home1868 benefit match1871 run-off1873 international1877 American tournament1878 Grand Prix1879 single1884 friendly1885 all-comers1889 pair1890 championship1893 round robin1894 replay1895 Olympiad1896 junior varsity1902 lightning tournament1903 rematch1903 road trip1903 pickup1905 freestyle1906 marathon1908 test1908 Derby1909 scrimmage1910 eliminator1911 twosome1911 triala1914 quadrangular1916 slug-fest1916 varsity match1921 needle contest1922 curtain jerker1923 needle match1923 open1926 needle fight1927 knock-out1928 shirt1930 masters1933 pro-amateur1934 tune-up1934 World Cup1934 pro-am1937 state1941 sizzler1942 runathon1943 mismatch1954 run-out1955 match-up1959 squeaker1961 triple-header1961 Super Bowl1967 invitational1968 needle game1970 major1976 slobberknocker1986 1890 Whitaker's Almanack 590/2 Looker and Clark of the Thames won the Senior Pairs. 1932 G. L. Anderson in H. P. Webber & J. W. Fisher Mod. Technique of Bowls iii. 31 In pairs or doubles, each player has four woods. 1974 Guardian 25 Mar. 24/7 It usually pays to ignore minor-suit contracts at pairs. 1987 Sc. Curler Sept. 3/3 It is our hope that as many teams as possible will enter for and participate in our other competitions such as..the National Pairs. h. Basket-making. Two rods of cane or willow worked alternately over and under one another. Cf. fitch n.² ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from other vegetable fibres > [noun] > randed work or basketry > other parts pair1897 weaver1897 rand1903 trac1924 slew1960 1897 A. Firth Cane Basket Work vi. 42 Take No. 3 [spoke]..bringing it down beside No. 1 and behind No. 4.., making one ‘pair’ of ends turned down. The canes forming these ‘pairs’ must each in turn be kept side by side..and held perfectly flat under the thumb till the next ‘pair’ is down. 1904 O. T. Mason Indian Basketry I. iii. 94 Two-rod foundation.—One rod in this style lies on top of the other; the stitches pass over two rods in progress and under the upper one of the pair below. 1953 A. G. Knock Willow Basket-work (ed. 5) 21 When a round of fitching is completed, the remainder of the two rods may be worked out as a pair. 1989 B. Maynard Mod. Basketry Techniques iv. 29 Pairing..is used particularly to weave round and oval bases. We sometimes refer to pairing as ‘putting on a pair’. i. colloquial. A pair of (woman's) breasts. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > front > breast or breasts (of woman) > [noun] titOE breastOE mammaOE pysea1400 mamellec1450 dug1530 duckya1533 bag1579 pommela1586 mam1611 Milky Way1622 bubby?1660 udder1702 globea1727 fore-buttock1727 tetty1746 breastwork?1760 diddy1788 snows1803 sweets1817 titty1865 pappy1869 Charleys1874 bub1881 breastiec1900 ninny1909 pair1919 boobs1932 boobya1934 fun bag1938 maraca1940 knockers1941 can1946 mammaries1947 bazooms1955 jug1957 melon1957 bosoms1959 Bristols1961 chichi1961 nork1962 puppies1963 rack1968 knob1970 dingleberry1980 jubblies1991 1919 J. Joyce Ulysses x. [Wandering Rocks] in Little Rev. July 30 Hell's delight! She has a fine pair. 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 174 ‘Who was that tart you had round here before?’ ‘Gloria?’ ‘Yeah. Tell you what, she's got a right pair on her.’ 1999 C. Aherne et al. Royle Family Scripts: Ser. 2 (2000) Episode 6. 129 She's still got a fine pair, ol' Barbara Windsor, hasn't she, I'll give her that. II. A set not limited to two in number. 6. A set of separate things or parts collectively forming a whole, as a set of clothes, a pack of cards, a chest of drawers, etc. Now chiefly British regional and Irish English (northern) Sc. National Dict. s.v. records this sense as still in use with reference to cards in Selkirkshire in 1965. ΚΠ 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 258 Þet on wyfman ssel habbe uor hare body ine one yere zuo uele payre of robes. c1395 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 1741 His felawe hadde..A peyre of tables al of yuory And a poyntel polysshed fetisly. 1415 in F. A. Page-Turner Bedfordshire Wills (1914) 26 (MED) Item, a pair of keruynge knyues, iiij in a sheth. 1426–7 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 8 Certeyns maffaisours..þe seyd John Grys..by þe space of a myle to a peyre galwes ledden. c1450 (a1425) Metrical Paraphr. Old Test. (Selden) 12411 (MED) Naman ordand..Ten payr of garmentes. a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vii. iv. 74 Apoune the postis also mony ane payr Off harnes hang. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 182 Vnes cartes, a payre of cardes to playe with. 1578 J. Stockwood Serm. Barthelmew Day 142 They perfectlye can telle howe manye spottes there be in a payre of Cardes..when as they scarce reade a leafe of the Bible. 1613 J. Saris Voy. Japan 4 Apr. (1900) 48 He came to buy a paire of Cardes. a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Sea Voy. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Aaaaa^v/2 I ha nothing but my skinne, And my Clothes; my sword here, and my self; Two Crowns in my Pocket; two paire of Cards; And three false Dice. 1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod iv. ii. 291 The pack or set of cards, in the old plays, is continually called a pair of cards. 1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. (at cited word) ‘A pair o' Carritches’, a catechism; ‘a pair o' Proverbs’, a copy of the Proverbs, used as a school-book; ‘a pair o' pullisees’, a complete tackle of pullies, &c. 1894 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words at Pair ‘A pair (= chest) of drawers.’ ‘A pair of cards’... ‘A pair o' pipes’... All these terms are in common general use. 1997 B. Share Slanguage 208/1 Pair of drawers,..(Ulster). Chest of drawers. 7. Originally: a set of rosary beads. In later use also gen. (chiefly U.S. regional): a string of beads, a necklace. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > [noun] > a complex whole > an organized or collective whole > number of things seen as pair1351 set1690 the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > group > set of things to be used or made together gang?1340 pair1351 suit1424 nest1467 cast1535 set1561 stander1578 shift1592 casea1616 set-out1806 1351 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1836) I. 64 (MED) Lego domino Thomæ..j par de bedes de corall. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 2904 A Paire of Bedes blak as Sable Sche tok and heng my necke aboute. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. 119 (MED) If many a prest bere..A peyre [v.r. of peire of] bedes in her hande. 1446 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1855) II. 124 A pare of bedes of corall with gaudes of gete. c1550 Auentur on Weddinsd. (Bannatyne MS.) Ane pair of beids about hir throt. a1625 J. Fletcher Wife for Moneth i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) 47 Go get a paire of beads and learne to pray, Sir. 1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. vi. 285 Fourty paire of Chaplets. 1711 in E. H. Burton Life Bp. Challoner (1909) I. iii. 32 Ye Superiors had inculcated..ye two pair of beads to be said every week by one of ye Philosophers. 1843 W. Carleton Traits & Stories Irish Peasantry (new ed.) I. 263 A thin, sallow little man, with a pair of beads, as long as himself. 1880 J. H. Shorthouse John Inglesant xx. 267 The rich oratories..where a classic statue of Apollo stands by the side of a crucifix, a Venus with Our Lady, a Cupid near St. Michael, and a pair of beads hanging on Mercury's Caduceus. 1930 Amer. Speech 5 427 A necklace is sometimes called a pair o' beads in the Ozarks. 1944 N.Y. Times 23 June 7 The Vatican's stocks of rosaries were almost exhausted this afternoon after Pope Pius XII gave away more than 18,000 pairs. 1962 A. Jobson Window in Suffolk vi. 102 She would refer to a necklace as a pair of beads. 1993 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 21 Feb. b1 A rider on one of the NOMTOC floats lets a pair of beads fly. 8. A set of bagpipes or virginals (formerly also of organs). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > pipe > [noun] > bagpipe bagc1275 stivec1290 cornemusec1384 musettea1393 bagpipec1405 pair1422 pipec1450 muse1484 drone1502 lilt-pipea1525 great pipe1592 miskin1593 Highland pipe1599 small-pipes1656 piffero1724 Highland bagpipe1728 zampogna1740 union pipes1788 Lowland pipes1794 pibroch1807 piob mhor1838 gaita1846 sack pipe1889 set1893 biniou1902 uillean pipes1906 1422–3 in R. E. G. Kirk Acct. Abingdon Abbey (1892) 98 (MED) j par organes. 1493 in W. Chappell Pop. Music (1855) I. 49 Delivered to a merchaunt, for a pair of Organnes 30£. 1542 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 159 A paire of virginals. 1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. 95 Al the pipes and flutes of a paire of Organs being set together. 1660 G. Mackenzie Aretina i. 24 A pair of Organs, moved with a Water-work, with which three cages of Birds, made a melodious consort. 1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 62 He's as proud of these, as a Highlander is of a pair of Bag-pipes. 1842 S. C. Hall & A. M. Hall Ireland II. 338 Footing a hornpipe to the music of a pair of bagpipes. 1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped xxv Duncan Dhu made haste to bring out the pair of pipes that was his principal possession. 1927 Times 25 Nov. 19/6 Among his effects were a pair of virginals, two viols, a cittern, a recorder, a flute, and ‘music-books’. 1998 European (Nexis) 6 July 34 The suspicious purr from last night sounds like I'm playing a pair of bagpipes in my chest. 9. a. A set or flight of stairs or steps; (also) a portable set of steps. Also figurative.The more recent use of pair of steps to denote a portable set of steps consisting of two joined halves aligns it with the senses in branch I. (see esp. sense 3). ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > ladder > [noun] > step-ladder pairc1450 steps1693 stand-ladder1712 stepladder1751 library stepsc1762 high step1776 trap-ladder1855 society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > stairs > [noun] stairc1000 grece1382 grecingc1400 pairc1450 slip1480 pair, flight of stairs1556 scale1592 staircase1624 scalier1652 dancers1667 flight1703 stairway1767 apple(s) and pears1857 c1450 J. Capgrave Solace of Pilgrims (Bodl. 423) (1911) 77 (MED) Thann go we down on a peyr greces in to a chapel þei clepe ierlm. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 182 Vngz degrez, a payre of stayres. ?1600 H. Plat Delightes for Ladies sig. H3^v A maide that fell downe a paire of staires. 1628 J. Earle Micro-cosmogr. xiii. sig. C10^v A Tauerne Is a degree, or (if you will) a paire of stayres aboue an Alehouse. 1684 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 14 443 Being..not able..to have past through a Gallery down a pair of Stairs into the Court. 1730 Inventory R. Woolley's Goods (1732) 11 A Pair of wooden Steps. 1755 in J. A. Picton City of Liverpool: Select. Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 155 A breast wall and pair of steps from the shore or road up to the Ladies' Walk. 1761 G. Colman in St. James's Chron. 18 June 1/2 I could as easily have scaled the Monument, as have come at the Tip of her Chin without the Help of a Pair of Steps. 1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xli. 402 An old black velvet cap, which, by slow degrees, as if its wearer were ascending a ladder or pair of steps, rose above the wall. 1884 J. Eastwood & W. A. Wright Bible Word-bk. (ed. 2) (at cited word) We still speak of a ‘pair’ of steps or stairs. 1903 W. D. Howells Lett. Home v. 33 It all ended..in our finding these two rooms, five pair up, in an apartment with respectable people who are glad to let them. 1923 Times 4 Dec. 16 (caption) Mr. Lloyd George is standing on a pair of steps steadied by porters. 1928 A. E. Pease Dict. Dial. N. Riding Yorks. 92/2 Pair of stairs, the usual term for a ‘flight’ of stairs or a staircase. 1991 B. Aldiss Frankenstein Unbound (BNC) xx. 172 I..seized a pair of steps, used to reach the higher shelves; I dragged the steps to the middle of the room. 1995 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 16 Oct. 20 The lines snaked around the block and down a pair of stairs, into a large exhibition hall. b. Used with a preceding cardinal (or occasionally ordinal) numeral to denote a window or (later usually) room located the stated number of flights of stairs above ground level (frequently qualified by front or back to indicate position within a building). Frequently attributive, as two pair (of stairs) room, etc. Now rare. ΚΠ 1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator I. 15 She consented to be his, and to make good her Word, ventured her Life, by descending from a two Pair of Stairs Window. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xiv. vi. 140 That Nightingale should procure him either the Ground Floor, or the two Pair of Stairs. View more context for this quotation 1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph II. 245 Working for my bread in a two pair of stairs room. 1830 Times 13 July in Times (1930) 12 July 9/2 Some of the ‘snatchers’..attempted to gain an entrance at the two-pair of stairs window. 1836 C. Dickens Let. ?24 Aug. (1965) I. 170 His notion of the Bedroom is rather more derived,..from his own fourth pair back. 1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) ii. 11 Mr. Pecksniff..turned him loose in a spacious room on the two-pair front. 1853 C. M. Smith Curiosities London Life 360 The little two-pair back-room where we now sit. 1909 Times 8 May 10/3 Inquiry showed that he was a lawyer, rented a two pair back in the Temple, and had no other connexion with land. 1959 Dáil Éireann: Parl. Deb. 2 June 738/2 The answer to why an individual, or a family, in a two-pair back in a street like Dominick Street, is destitute while [etc.]. 1960 R. Davies Voice from Attic i. 31 In eighteenth-and nineteenth-century England..the ‘two-pair back’ was the room at the rear, two flights up; and a ‘three-pair back’..was directly below the servants' quarters. 10. Archery. A set of three arrows. Now chiefly historical (with reference to the ceremonial obligations of the Royal Company of Archers: see quot. 1705). ΚΠ 1705 Charter 6 Mar. in ‘I. Hay’ Royal Company Archers (1951) 232 Rendering..yearly, the said Royal Company, to us and our successors, one pair of barbed arrows at the term of Whitsunday, if asked only. 1713 in W. C. Dickinson Two Students at St. Andrews (1952) 81 For a pair of Arrows to him—£00 10 00. 1801 T. Roberts Eng. Bowman 154 in W. F. Paterson Encycl. Archery (1984) 84/1 In archery, three arrows are called a pair; that, if one is broke, lost, or injured, the archer may have two (the number used at a time) left of equal weight. 1890 Cent. Dict. 4235/1 Pair,..in archery, a set of three arrows. 1937 Scotsman 5 July The ‘pair of barbed arrows’ presented to the Sovereign by his faithful Archers consist not of two arrows but of three. 1951 ‘I. Hay’ Royal Company Archers v. 48 The impressive ceremony of The Reddendo—the presentation of a ‘pair of barbed arrows’ (in point of fact there were, and always are, three of these) upon a green velvet cushion. 11. Mining colloquial (originally Cornwall). A company of men working together; a team of horses or mules. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > miner > [noun] > company of miners core1778 pair1778 the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > [noun] > hybrid horse and ass > mule > used for specific purpose > team of pair1778 1778 W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis 325/1 Pair, any indeterminate number of miners who work together in a mine in a pitch upon tribute, in a but-bargain, &c. Also, they call any number of horses, from five to twenty, a pair of horses. 1846 ‘J. Treenoodle’ Specimens Cornish Provinc. Dial. 26 (E.D.D.) Ef Franky's peere wornt drunk. 1848 S. Austral. Reg. (Adelaide) 22 Nov. 3/5 The vast heaps..are now being let to ‘pairs’ or parties of workmen (a ‘pair’ of miners generally consisting of some half dozen). 1873 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1871–3 1 202 One ‘pair’ (two or more men working in common) may be losing money. 1895 ‘G. Mortimer’ Tales Western Moors 87 My mate, who was generally in my pair, as we call a party of underground men, was given to odd fancies. 1962 O. Pryor Australia's Little Cornwall 15 It was usual for a party—known as a pare—of tributers to form themselves together to work a pitch, or portion of a lode. Compounds C1. pair-case n. a double case for a watch, consisting of an inner case containing the workings and a protective or decorative outer case. ΘΚΠ the world > time > instruments for measuring time > watch > [noun] > parts of barrel1591 motion1605 bezel1616 fusee1622 string1638 crown wheel1646 out-case1651 watch-box1656 nuck1664 watchwork1667 balance-wheel1669 box1675 dial wheel1675 counter-potence1678 pendulum-balance1680 watch-case1681 pillar1684 contrate teeth1696 pinion of report1696 watch-hook1698 bob-balance1701 half-cock1701 potence1704 verge1704 pad1705 movable1709 jewel1711 pendant1721 crystal1722 watch-key1723 pendulum spring1728 lock spring1741 watch-glass1742 watch-spring1761 all-or-nothing piece1764 watch hand1764 cylinder1765 cannon?1780 cannon1802 stackfreed1819 pillar plate1821 little hand1829 hair-spring1830 lunette1832 all-or-nothing1843 locking1851 slag1857 staff1860 case spring1866 stem1866 balance-cock1874 watch-dial1875 balance-spring1881 balance-staff1881 Breguet spring1881 overcoil1881 surprise-piece1881 brass edge1884 button turn1884 fourth wheel1884 fusee-sink1884 pair-case1884 silver bar1884 silver piece1884 slang1884 top plate1884 karrusel1893 watch-face1893 watch bracelet1896 bar-movement1903 jewel pivot1907 jewel bearing1954 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 183 Pair Case, the old style of casing watches with an inner watch case containing the movement and an outer case quite detached from the inner. 1924 Isis 6 124 It resembled an enormous pair-case watch, about 5 inches in diameter; it was not suspended in gimbals. 1999 Western Daily Press (Nexis) 18 Dec. 21 An unusual and collectable selection of watches includes the tortoiseshell pair-case..seen on the right. pair-fed adj. (of an animal) subjected to pair-feeding. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [adjective] > fed > fed in specific way pen-fedc1400 stall-feda1555 mast-fed1566 grass-fed1575 bean-fed1590 soiled1608 corn-fed1787 summered1804 pair-fed1951 zero-grazed1958 1951 Science 2 Mar. 242/2 Baldwin, Longenecker, and King..found no significant difference in adrenal cholesterol concentration between the animals ‘in the last stages of scurvy’..and the pair-fed controls. 1996 Fund. & Appl. Toxicol. 30 221/2 Pair-fed control rats were fed the mean amount of diet consumed on the previous day by the rats dosed with 40 mg C8/kg. pair-feed v. transitive to feed two groups of (experimental animals) with a diet identical except for the item whose effects are being tested on one group. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [verb (transitive)] > feed with specific food or meal sup1575 winter-feed1606 soil1608 supper1666 browse1675 cake1799 slop1848 mash1859 pair-feed1944 zero-graze1954 1944 Science 12 May 393/2 The animals in group 2 were pair-fed with those in group 3 and those in group 6 with group 7. 1996 Jrnl. Sci. Food & Agric. 70 468 Rats were pair-fed for 10 days with all the above diets which had been supplemented with essential amino acids. pair-feeding n. the feeding of two groups of experimental animals with a diet identical except for the item whose effects are being tested on one group. ΚΠ 1968 Science 19 Apr. 322 Female rats were maintained on a 8 or 27 percent protein diet by a pair-feeding schedule for 1 month before mating and throughout gestation. 1985 Jrnl. Sci. Food & Agric. 36 412 To find the true effects of dietary bean proteins on nutritional performance a series of pair-feeding experiments was carried out. pair-formation n. Zoology the coming together of individual male and female animals in preparation for breeding (cf. pair-bonding n.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [noun] > mating admissure?1440 mating1871 mateship1927 pair-formation1939 1939 E. Mayr in Amer. Naturalist 73 161 It is..advisable to say a few words about pair formation in birds and to classify the occurrence of unusual sex ratios according to the pairing behavior in such species. 1967 A. Manning Introd. Animal Behaviour v. 105 In some birds the female becomes dominant after pair formation. 1971 J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man xxxiv. 484 Apparently in baboons and even chimpanzees and gorillas there is no long-lasting pair formation. 2002 M. D. Greenfield Signalers & Receivers v. 242 Pair-formation in many North American firefly species is a photic dialogue. † pair-light n. Obsolete rare a window with two lights; cf. light n.¹ 9a. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > window or door > types of window > [noun] > other types of window loop1393 shot-windowc1405 gable window1428 batement light1445 church window1458 shot1513 casement1538 dream-hole1559 luket1564 draw window1567 loop-window1574 loophole1591 tower-windowc1593 thorough lights1600 squinch1602 turret window1603 slit1607 close-shuts1615 gutter window1620 street lighta1625 balcony-window1635 clere-story window1679 slip1730 air-loop1758 Venetian1766 Venetian window1775 sidelight1779 lancet window1781 French casement1804 double window1819 couplet1844 spire-light1846 lancet1848 tower-light1848 triplet1849 bar-window1857 pair-light1868 nook window1878 coupled windows1881 three-light1908–9 north-light1919 storm window1933 borrowed light1934 Thermopane1941 storms1952 1868 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 183 It [sc. a tower] is pierced with pair-lights first, higher with a triplet. pair-mate v. transitive to test the sexual compatibility of (experimental animals) by allowing mating within and between each of two groups; (also) to control the mating of (experimental animals) so that each male mates with only one female, or vice versa. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > rear animals [verb (transitive)] > breed > breed experimentally pair-mate1944 1944 Genetics 29 526 One hundred and six Azusa wild males [sc. fruit-flies] were pair-mated to standard grade 20 Wooster bobbed females. 1997 Mutation Res. 389 149 Two X-irradiated male fish were pair-mated with non-irradiated females to produce F-1 founders. pair-mated adj. subjected to pair-mating. ΚΠ 1985 Progressive Fish Culturist 47 21 Analysis indicated that the size of the pair-mated brood fish was associated with spawning success. 1995 Aquaculture 134 37 Lack of significant differences among the mass-spawned and pair-mated groups..indicated that self-fertilized larvae did occur among the pair-mated group. pair mating n. the practice of pair-mating animals; an instance of this. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > [noun] > breeding from own stock > experimental breeding pair mating1921 1921 Amer. Naturalist 55 559 Let us assume that there are involved in a given pair-mating the six duplicate size-factors..and their absences or corresponding recessives. 1968 R. Rieger et al. Gloss. Genetics & Cytogenetics 327 Pair mating, a procedure used to determine the degree of sexual isolation between two groups (A and B) of individuals. Separate tests of mating success are made for the four possible mating combinations. 1995 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 262 136/1 The average amount of sperm released by TP males in pair matings was 3.33 × 10⁶. pair production n. Nuclear Physics the conversion of a gamma-ray photon into an electron and a positron only. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > particle avoiding strong interaction > electron > [noun] > conversion into electron and positron pair production1934 1934 Physical Rev. 45 137/1 For energies above twenty million volts the predicted pair production is even greater than that computed by Oppenheimer and Plesset. 1958 W. K. Mansfield Elem. Nucl. Physics v. 43 The three methods of interaction of γ-rays with matter are Compton scattering, photo-electric absorption and pair production. 1986 J. D. Barrow & F. J. Tipler Anthropic Cosmological Princ. (1988) v. 297 Large..systems appear unstable to pair production, but in practice a susceptibility to fission arises at a lower value of Z. pair skating n. ice-skating performed by pairs. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > skating > [noun] > other types of skating running1816 free skating1902 pair skating1902 sculling1938 skeeling1969 skatathon1970 1902 Daily Chron. 14 Feb. 4/7 To this event succeeded the pair-skating competition. 1983 J. Hennessy Torvill & Dean 109 The difference between our branch of the sport and pair skating is that in between, they've got a lot of forward running and backward crossovers. pair-toed adj. (of a bird) having the toes in pairs, two in front and two behind; zygodactylous. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [adjective] > of toes or claws > having particular type of zygodactylous1828 yoke-toed1831 zygodactyl1831 anisodactylic1834 zygodactylic1835 lark-heeled1837 short-toed1837 heterodactylous1854 pair-toed1868 sympelmous1885 pamprodactylous1889 pigeon-toed1890 pamprodactyl1934 synpelmous- 1868 T. H. Huxley in Proc. Zool. Soc. 316 A few Cuckoos represent the Pair-toed Coccygomorphæ. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XV. 105/1 The Galbulidae have zygodactylous or pair-toed feet, like the Cuculidae, Bucconidae and Picidae. pair work n. Education learning in which students work in pairs, esp. as a technique used in language teaching. ΚΠ 1979 I. Dunlop in Zielsprache Englisch 9 1 Pair work, as the name suggests, means putting pupils in pairs to practise one of the following things:—a grammatical structure, [etc.]. 1992 ELT Jrnl. 46 73 There is then a review section to encourage pair work and note taking. 2002 Western Mail (Cardiff) (Nexis) 5 July 5 Judges described being in one of the 30-year-old's lessons as ‘a gripping and enthralling experience, often humorous and combining innovative and traditional methods, problem-solving and pair work’. C2. Sport and Games. In plural used attributively to designate a (player in a) competition, match, etc., contested by pairs of players. Cf. pair skating n. at Compounds 1. ΚΠ 1912 J. A. Manson Compl. Bowler xii. 191 Let him..assume he is playing second in a pairs competition. 1948 H. P. Webber Bowls ix. 58 The pairs game..is, in the special qualities it demands, quite removed from both singles and rinks. 1958 Listener 13 Nov. 805/3 In a match-pointed pairs contest I might consider rescuing to Two Clubs. 1977 N.Z. Herald 5 Jan. i. 16/2 Among other unbeaten teams are those from Linwood, skipped by the wizard of pairs bowling, K. R. Darling. 2003 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 3 Jan. 42 Kyoko Ina..skates with pairs partner John Zimmerman on their debut tour with Stars on Ice. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022). † pairn.² Forms: Middle English payre. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: pair v.¹ Etymology: < pair v.¹ Obsolete. rare. Impairment, abatement. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > declining or falling off declinea1327 fadea1400 paira1400 declining1481 vading1570 fall1590 hield1599 languishment1617 decay1636 defalcation1649 decidence1655 fall-off1676 falling off1761 fallaway1879 downswing1922 a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) 7382 (MED) Iesse welcomed him ful faire; samuel him talde wiþ-outen payre. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2021). pairn.³ Brit. /pɛː/, U.S. /pɛ(ə)r/ Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French pair. Etymology: < French pair, use as noun (compare quot. 1850) of pair (adjective) ‘divisible by two, even’ (13th cent. in Old French as per ; 17th cent. as pair ) < classical Latin pār divisible by two, equal (see pair n.¹). Roulette. An even number; even numbers collectively, as represented on a roulette table by a section of the cloth marked with the word ‘pair’. Also: a bet placed on this section. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > roulette > [noun] > numbers or colours black1793 red1793 rouge1835 impair1850 noir1850 pair1867 1850 H. G. Bohn et al. Hand-bk. Games 348 The other chances are also designated on the green cloth.., ‘le pair, le passe, et le noir’.] 1867 Galaxy 1 Mar. 498 The player may..stake his money, receiving an equal amount in payment if he win, upon the six ‘simple chances’ of rouge, noir, manque, passe, pair or impair. 1903 Times 16 Jan. 3/3 He insists..that there is no tendency to make things even between pair and impair at roulette. 1969 J. Binstock Casino Admin. vi. 72 This [sc. roulette] is played on a table with 37 numbers from zero to 36, the so-called ‘even chance’ bets being pair and impair, passe and manque, rouge and noir. 1973 L. Meynell Thirteen Trumpeters iv. 66 His right hand was..stretching out to place his stake on the next throw (a green on pair)... ‘Impair’ was called. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022). pairv.¹ Brit. /pɛː/, U.S. /pɛ(ə)r/, Scottish English /per/ Forms: Middle English peiere, Middle English peire, Middle English pere, Middle English peyer, Middle English peyr, Middle English (1800s– English regional (northern)) pare, Middle English–1500s payre, Middle English–1500s peyre, Middle English–1600s paire, Middle English–1600s payr, Middle English–1600s (1800s– English regional (northern)) pair, 1500s peare, 1500s (1800s– English regional (Yorkshire)) par; Scottish pre-1700 paire, pre-1700 payr, pre-1700 payre, pre-1700 pear, pre-1700 1700s– pair, pre-1700 1700s– pare, pre-1700 (1900s– Shetland) par, 1900s– per (Shetland). Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: appair v. Etymology: Aphetic < appair v. Compare also impair v.In Middle English prefixed and unprefixed forms of the past participle are attested (see y- prefix). Now rare (Scottish and English regional (northern) in later use). 1. transitive. To make worse; to harm, damage; to cause diminution to; = impair v. 1. Also intransitive: to effect a diminution or deterioration. In later use frequently in to eke (also add) or pair and variants (Scottish): to add or subtract, to increase or diminish. Sc. National Dict. records this sense as still in use in Shetland in 1965. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [verb (transitive)] worsec1175 worsena1250 appair1297 impair1297 pairc1330 aggregea1382 appalea1500 emperish1509 empyre1566 worser1590 worst1602 improve1609 pejorate1653 vilioratea1722 misimprove1847 nastify1873 c1330 Adam & Eve (Auch.) 290 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 142 (MED) Ich wald þat þou wost me telle Whi þou inwest me and mi wiif And art about to pair our liif? a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 399 He..amended citees þat were i-peyred [v.r. appayred; L. mutilatas]. c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. iii. 123 Heo makeþ men misdo moni score tymes..Apoysende Popes and peyreþ [v.rr. peyrid, parys; appaireth, enpaires; c1400 B text peired; c1400 C text apeireþ] holy chirche. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 8407 He þat better can mend þen pere [a1400 Gött. payre; a1400 Trin. Cambr. peire]. c1475 (?c1400) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 433 (MED) Þus bi process of tyme is þe Chirche peyred, by turnyng fro Cristis lawe. a1500 Sir Degrevant (Cambr.) (1949) 1903 (MED) Was neuer peres myȝth hym peyr. ?1504 S. Hawes Example of Vertu sig. cc.ii For that wyll payre and yll thy name. 1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. viii. sig. Kii^v I will..mende this house, and payre an other. 1573 J. Tyrie Refut. Ansuer Knox To Rdr. sig. ☩vi^v Nother eikand nor pearand ane word. 1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 140 Euer it mends Some, and paires Other. 1683 Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Test. 10 July With protestatione to eek or pair unto the abon wryttin testament [etc.]. 1897 Shetland News 28 Aug. Dat can nedder add or pare. 1932 A. Horsbøl tr. J. Jakobsen Etymol. Dict. Norn Lang. in Shetland II. 646/2 Pard..to de bens, lean, skinny. 2. intransitive. To become or grow worse, deteriorate, fall off; to diminish; = impair v. 2. Also with up. Sc. National Dict. records this sense as still in use in Shetland in 1965. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > deteriorate in condition [verb (intransitive)] marc1225 pairc1390 starvec1400 dispair1580 to go off1583 die1612 spoil1692 to go bad1799 to go wrong1882 to go in the tank1974 the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [verb (intransitive)] worseeOE aswindc885 worsena1250 appair1340 impair1340 fainta1375 pairc1390 vade1471 decay1511 decline1530 degenerate1545 lapse1641 addle1654 sunset1656 deteriorate1758 worst1781 descend1829 disimprove1846 slush1882 devolute1893 worser1894 the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > decrease in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (intransitive)] > decline or fall off afalleOE swindOE slakec1315 pairc1390 fade1398 to fall awayc1510 decline1530 to fall off1608 sink1613 recess1641 fail1819 lighten1827 c1390 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 112 (MED) Whon þe hed is crouned feire, Alle þe limes ben fayne—Of heore worschip þat neuer schal peire. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 296 (MED) Now alle þe cuntre peires, vnneþis ouht þei left. c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. 11210 (MED) It [sc. Hector's body] was dight wel & fair That he myght neuere rote ne pair. c1475 (?c1400) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 438 Þis is cause whi þe world peyreþ. 1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) i. l. 14 Bot god abuff has maid thar mycht to par. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 655/2 I peyre, I waxe worse. 1598 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 3 Last Bks. vi. i. 84 Somewhat it was that made his paunch so peare, His girdle fell ten ynches in a yeare. 1650 T. Froysell Serm. (1652) 41 So doe his gifts begin to flag and paire in him. 1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Pare, to give a less quantity of milk. ‘T'cow pares feafully’. 1842 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes Scotl. (new ed.) 38/1 Februar, an ye be fair, The hoggs 'll mend, and naething pair. 1902 E. Greenwood in Eng. Dial. Dict. III. 410/1 [West Yorkshire] He's paired a great deal, sin' I saw him. 1932 A. Horsbøl tr. J. Jakobsen Etymol. Dict. Norn Lang. in Shetland II. 646/2 He is perin op. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022). pairv.² Brit. /pɛː/, U.S. /pɛ(ə)r/ Forms: see pair n.¹ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: pair n.¹ Etymology: < pair n.¹ 1. a. transitive. To arrange (two persons or things) into a pair or couple; to arrange (a larger number) in pairs; to associate or bring together as colleagues or antagonists. Frequently in passive.In quot. 1841 used intransitively. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > arrange in pairs [verb (transitive)] match1508 pair1578 intwin1613 fellow1654 to pair off1816 the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > arrange in pairs [verb (transitive)] > people couple1362 pair1578 1578 H. Wotton tr. J. Yver Courtlie Controuersie 118 Me thinketh..that to drawe a Cart currantly, it behoueth to payre the Oxen as equally in bignesse, height, and strength, as maye be deuised. 1607 F. Beaumont Woman Hater iv. ii. sig. G3 Vertue and Grace are alwaies paird together. 1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada ii. iii. iii. 116 Ye gods, why are not Hearts first pair'd above! 1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 24 Thus these two [sc. Captain and Lieutenant] are generally pair'd like Marry'd Couples. 1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 113. ⁋4 I made new Liveries, new-pair'd my Coach-Horses. 1769 H. Brooke Fool of Quality IV. xvii. 211 After four or five more Minuets by the younger Folk, the Parties were appointed and paired for Country Dances. 1841 E. C. Grey Little Wife II. vii. 61 If you go on pairing and matching in this manner..you will be the terror of the whole of the male species. 1895 ‘M. Corelli’ Sorrows Satan xi The Earl proceeded to ‘pair’ us all. ‘Prince, you will take Miss Fitzroy,—Mr. Tempest, my daughter falls to your escort’. 1933 G. Greene in London Mercury Jan. 242 The great characters of fiction are often paired: Quixote and Sancho, Pantagruel and Panurge, Pickwick and Weller, Benjamin and Peter. 1988 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 30 Oct. (Metro section) ii. 1/4 Genetic fingerprints indicated that Cuyama and Cachuma..are close relatives..but they will be paired anyway. b. transitive. To match or combine (one person or thing) with another so as to form a pair; to match (one group) with another so as to form mixed pairs. Frequently in passive. ΚΠ 1606 B. Jonson Hymenaei sig. C2 By this time, the Ladies were payred with the Men; and the whole Sixteene rank'd foorth, in order, to daunce. 1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 24 I can pair, with Sea-Shells, several of these Fossil ones. 1712 A. Pope tr. Ovid Sapho to Phaon in tr. Ovid Epist. (ed. 8) 9 Turtles and Doves of diff'ring Hues, unite, And glossy Jett is pair'd with shining White. 1763 F. Brooke Hist. Lady Julia Mandeville II. 37 A long procession of our village youths,..paired with the handsomest of the country girls,..preceded the harvest cart. 1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth vi, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 139 It is only whilst the timid stag is paired with the doe, that he is desperate and dangerous. 1881 E. B. Tylor Anthropol. ix. 223 Each warrior is paired with an opponent. 1908 J. A. Thomson Heredity x. §4. 365 Hurst paired white Angora rabbits..with ‘Belgian hare’ rabbits. 1948 Life 6 Sept. 104/2 A doubles match in which the king was paired with Mlle. Suzanne Lenglen. 1973 New Yorker 3 Dec. 68/1 (advt.) Sunbound popover, to be paired with pants. 2002 Time Out N.Y. 5 Sept. 32/1 She tea-smokes salmon and pairs it with green-tea-and-caramelized-onion risotto. †c. transitive. To provide (an object) with a counterpart so as to make a pair. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > arrange in pairs [verb (transitive)] > with view to fitness or equality matchc1440 pair1613 1613 Sir E. Sackville in Guardian No. 133 My lord..had not paired the sword I sent him to Paris; bringing one of the same length, but twice as broad. d. transitive. In passive. With adverb: to be matched well, badly, etc., as a pair. ΚΠ 1694 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in Ann. Misc. 54 'Twas then that Buffolo's ill-pair'd, were seen To draw the Carr of Jove's Imperial Queen. 1708 T. Baker Fine Lady's Airs iii. i. 27 We might unite Circumstances, and astonish the World at the Sight of a couple so prodigiously well pair'd. 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 102 An old jolly stager..gave us both joy, and said, we were well paired, e'faith! 1832 W. C. Bryant Poems (new ed.) 164 Innocent child and snow-white flower! Well are ye paired in your opening hour. a1882 R. W. Emerson Poems (1904) 124 Perfect-paired as eagle's wings, Justice is the rhyme of things. 1973 Times 17 Oct. 11/2 A rollicking finale, with the lugubrious Quaker lady suddenly developing a twinkle in her eye..and everyone else similarly ill paired. 1986 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 14 Dec. i. iv. 117/1 Marilyn Banks and Ralph Glenmore were very well paired as the lovers. 2000 Standard (St. Catharines, Ont.) (Nexis) 18 Oct. b1 Eggplant and tomato are not easily paired with wine. 2. a. intransitive. Of a person or animal: to come together with another, esp. in love or marriage, or (in animals) to mate. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity [verb (intransitive)] > have sexual intercourse playOE to do (also work) one's kindc1225 bedc1315 couple1362 gendera1382 to go togetherc1390 to come togethera1398 meddlea1398 felterc1400 companya1425 swivec1440 japea1450 mellc1450 to have to do with (also mid, of, on)1474 engender1483 fuck?a1513 conversec1540 jostlec1540 confederate1557 coeate1576 jumble1582 mate1589 do1594 conjoin1597 grind1598 consortc1600 pair1603 to dance (a dance) between a pair of sheets1608 commix1610 cock1611 nibble1611 wap1611 bolstera1616 incorporate1622 truck1622 subagitate1623 occupya1626 minglec1630 copulate1632 fere1632 rut1637 joust1639 fanfreluche1653 carnalize1703 screw1725 pump1730 correspond1756 shag1770 hump1785 conjugate1790 diddle1879 to get some1889 fuckeec1890 jig-a-jig1896 perform1902 rabbit1919 jazz1920 sex1921 root1922 yentz1923 to make love1927 rock1931 mollock1932 to make (beautiful) music (together)1936 sleep1936 bang1937 lumber1938 to hop into bed (with)1951 to make out1951 ball1955 score1960 trick1965 to have it away1966 to roll in the hay1966 to get down1967 poontang1968 pork1968 shtup1969 shack1976 bonk1984 boink1985 the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [verb (intransitive)] > copulate to go to (the) bull (also cow, horse, etc.)a1393 entera1425 makea1522 lime1555 match1569 generate1605 copulate1632 fere1632 strene1820 pair1908 mate1927 to saw a chunk off1961 1603 H. Holland Pancharis sig. D2 What appetite the foule hath to the faire Is euident, for euery seely soule Knowes with perfection how things long to paire. 1617 S. Rowlands Bride sig. C3 My fathers pigeons..To paire with other doues they would resort. 1775 R. B. Sheridan Rivals ii. i There never can be but one man in the world, whom a truly modest and delicate woman ought to pair with in a country-dance. 1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth ii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 41 Hawks, far less eagles, pair not with the humble linnet. 1877 H. James American x. 172 If he had taken little comfort in his wife he had taken much in his two younger children..while Madame..had paired with her eldest-born. 1908 J. Davidson Testament 125 The gods have paired with women and begot Belovëd sons and daughters. 1920 F. S. Fitzgerald in Metrop. Mag. Oct. 64/3 A procession of cloaks issued single file from the women's dressing-room and, each one pairing with a coated beau.., drifted through the door. 1991 L. Faderman Odd Girls & Twilight Lovers i. 13 Many of those women paired with other female college graduates to establish same-sex households. b. intransitive. Of two persons or (esp.) animals: to form a pair or couple. Also, of a larger number: to form pairs.Now more usually with adverbs when referring to humans: see to pair off 2 at Phrasal verbs, to pair up at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > action or fact of marrying > marry [verb (intransitive)] weda1225 marrya1325 spousec1390 to make matrimonyc1400 intermarry1528 contract1530 to give (also conjoin, join, take) in (also to, into) marriage1535 to make a match1547 yoke1567 match1569 mate1589 to go to church (with a person)1600 to put one's neck in a noosec1600 paira1616 to join giblets1647 buckle1693 espouse1693 to change (alter) one's condition1712 to tie the knot1718 to marry out1727 to wedlock it1737 solemnize1748 forgather1768 unite1769 connubiate1814 conjugalize1823 connubialize1870 splice1874 to get hitched up1890 to hook up1903 a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 154 Your hand (my Perdita:) so Turtles paire That neuer meane to part. View more context for this quotation a1711 T. Ken Sion iii, in Wks. (1721) IV. 393 And tho' no Marriages are there, We yet may, like the Cherubs, pair. 1770 G. White Jrnl. 13 Feb. (1970) iii. 23 Partridges pair. 1793 W. Cowper Tale 15 A chaffinch and his mate... They paired, and would have built a nest. 1877 A. B. Edwards Thousand Miles up Nile xxii. 680 The pigeons are pairing; the time of the singing of birds is come. 1889 A. Austin Love's Widowhood 98 The broods of last year are pairing, this. a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xiii. 278 After they have made some progress they pair, and the queen settles down to the most extraordinary maternity in the world. 2003 Northern Territory News (Darwin) (Nexis) 29 Apr. 24 Adult wedge-tailed eagles pair for life. †3. a. intransitive. To match or be comparable with. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > be or become equal [verb (intransitive)] > be equal or find one's match (of persons) make?a1300 to meet (also find) one's matchc1300 to be matchesa1470 match1536 parallela1594 paira1616 a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. i. 116 Had our Prince..Seene this houre, he had payr'd Well with this Lord; there was not full a moneth Betweene their births. View more context for this quotation 1756 J. Home Douglas ii. i. 24 He might have..pair'd with him in features and in shape. a1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage to Land of Burns & Poems (1892) 132 I'll underlie a rightfu' law That pairs wi' heav'n's decree. 1879 ‘E. Garrett’ House by Wks. I. 52 There was no other figure which could pair with Barbara's. b. transitive. To be a match for; to match, equal. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > make equal [verb (transitive)] > equal, match, or rival matchc1400 to hold, rarely have, tack with (to)1412 equalize15.. mate1509 touch1530 to hold (a person, etc.) tack (to tack)1555 equal1590 egall1591 countermatch1600 to weigh with (also even with)1600 emulate1602 side1605 compeer1608 pair1619 mount1628 amate1642 to hold weight witha1643 to be (also prove oneself) a match for1712 peel1726 to hold the sticks toa1817 to bear or stand comparison with1845 see1861 tie1888 1619 M. Drayton Odes in Poems (new ed.) 304 That Shee which I adore, Which scarce Goodnesse selfe can payre. 4. Politics. a. intransitive. In a legislative assembly or debate: to form a pair for a vote (with); to come to an arrangement not to vote as (one of) a pair (see pair n.¹ 5c). See also to pair off 1 at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [verb (intransitive)] > divide > pair to pair off1772 pair1810 1810 G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 464 Several members had paired. 1852 T. B. Macaulay in G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay (1876) II. 352 I went down to the House and paired. 1885 Times (Weekly ed.) 6 Mar. 14/2 Sir E. Watkin neither voted nor paired on Friday night. 1945 Daily Tel. 7 Aug. 4/4 In hospital, unable to take part in the debate on the agreement, he paired against it. 1965 New Statesman 19 Mar. 426/2 It is further alleged that one Conservative, at least, saw fit to pair with two Labour members. 1983 M. FitzHerbert Man who was Greenmantle vii. 114 Aubrey hurried out to Constantinople, pairing in the House of Commons with Noel Buxton who was also bound hot foot for the Balkans. b. transitive. To bring (one member of a legislative assembly, etc.) together with another to form a pair for a vote (also occasionally with against); to link (two members) in this way. Chiefly in passive. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [verb (transitive)] > vote > pair with member to vote tie1680 pair1900 1900 Times 7 Feb. 10/2 Mr. Griffith Boscawen, who is doing garrison duty as a Militia officer in Malta, is paired with Mr. Pirie, who is in Spain. 1956 L. A. Abraham & S. C. Hawtrey Parl. Dict. 127 If a member wishes to be absent from the House, he may arrange with a member of the opposite party, who also wishes to be absent, that neither shall attend the House, or at least vote in a division, for an agreed time. They are then said to be ‘paired’. 1968 W. Safire New Lang. Politics 315/2 When supporters of John F. Kennedy explained that their candidate was seriously ill at the time of the McCarthy censure, liberal Democrats refused to accept the excuse because, they argued, ‘the Senator could have been paired against McCarthy’. 1997 Toronto Star (Nexis) 19 Sept. a5 Manning has refused to have his MPs ‘paired’ with absent Liberals. 5. intransitive. Basket-making. To work two rods alternately one over the other. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > manufacturing processes > basket-making > make baskets [verb (intransitive)] > specific processes pair1901 1901 A. Firth Cane Basket Work 2nd Ser. iv. 45 Pair round once to divide into twos, still keeping the central side spokes undivided. 1901 A. Firth Cane Basket Work 2nd Ser. iv. 45 Now turn the basket upside down and pair round once, taking two lots of double spokes together each time, and keeping the row of pairing even with the edge of the weaving. Phrasal verbs With adverbs in specialized senses. to pair off 1. intransitive. Politics = sense 4a. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [verb (intransitive)] > divide > pair to pair off1772 pair1810 1772 Debates & Proc. Brit. House of Commons 1768–1770 240 At dinner time many made no scruple, though the cause was not determined, of pairing off, as it is called; some pair'd off for every question in the election, others for a day, or a few hours only. 1797 T. Morton Cure for Heart-ache ii. ii. 39 Have I been buying a hundred thousand pounds worth of respect for this? Have I become a Member to pair off with my valet? 1817 Parl. Deb. 1st Ser. 744 Sir B. Hobhouse paired off in favour of the motion with General Thornton. 1866 Harper's Mag. May 805/2 This vote was given under peculiar circumstances. Mr. Morrill, of Maine, had sometime previously ‘paired off’ with Mr. Wright of New Jersey, [etc.]. 1901 Times 22 June 9/2 Mr. Samuel Smith, M.P., wishes it to be known that, under medical advice, he has paired off for the remainder of this Parliamentary Session. 1998 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 29 Sept. a18 MPs have traditionally paired off to avoid skewed voting and subsequent resounding defeats for the party with more absentee members than the other. 2. intransitive. gen. = sense 2a, 2b. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > go in pairs [verb (intransitive)] to pair off1794 buddy1895 to pair up1908 1794 T. Holcroft Adventures Hugh Trevor I. xiii. 185 At night we again paired off, and I was admitted to be her companion at supper. 1799 F. Reynolds Laugh when you Can iv. 60 Spare an unfortunate country gentleman, who has no wish but to pair off with his fond turtle for life. 1803 G. Colman John Bull i. i. 12 Come, Mrs. Brulgruddery, let you and I pair off, my lambkin. 1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham I. xxi. 162 This couple paired off, and were immediately succeeded by another. 1881 Mrs. A. B. Church Cecily's Debt III. i The other guests..paired off amongst themselves. a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. iv. 51 I suppose Ruth and Sinclair'll pair off and give us a chance. 1914 E. von Arnim Pastor's Wife iii. 28 By the end of the first day in Lucerne he was finding it pleasant to pair off with her. 1979 Nature 5 Apr. 493/2 If anything Europeans pair off with Americans rather than with fellow Europeans. 3. transitive. = sense 1a, 1b. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > arrange in pairs [verb (transitive)] match1508 pair1578 intwin1613 fellow1654 to pair off1816 1816 J. Austen Emma II. viii. 168 While waiting till the other young people could pair themselves off, Emma found time..to look about. View more context for this quotation 1836 ‘E. W. Sidney’ Partisan Leader I. ix. 82 The rest of the company were all paired off, leaving him in the enviable condition of a half pair of shears. 1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma xxxiii. 138 The Major..has been fidgetting about pairing parties off. 1909 Times 12 May 10/3 The poor bookworm is paired off with a dowdy secretary. 1978 C. Storr Winter's End ii. 38 She'd prompted Philip to ask Bran to keep Rosemary company... Rosemary was being paired off with him. 2000 Martial Arts Illustr. Feb. 106/3 He got a number of people out on the mat, pairing them off with an opponent. to pair up intransitive. To form a pair or pairs.In quot. 1920: to make a (good) match. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > pair > go in pairs [verb (intransitive)] to pair off1794 buddy1895 to pair up1908 1908 A. W. Myers Compl. Lawn Tennis Player 134 The prevalent custom..is for the members to ‘pair up’ irrespective of style and temperament. 1920 E. O'Neill Beyond Horizon ii. 37 Don't you think them two'd pair up well? 1937 Brit. Birds 30 267 As soon as a couple of birds have paired up, they proceed to exclude other Grebes from a certain area. 1965 D. Lack Life of Robin (ed. 4) v. 66 The blackbird apparently pairs up in late autumn. 2001 Independent 27 Feb. (Tuesday Review section) 7/1 Squaddies in infantry units have to pair up, since just about everything..is done in couples. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.¹c1300n.²a1400n.³1867v.¹c1330v.²1578
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pairn.1

Compounds

† pairn.2

pairn.3

pairv.1

pairv.2

Phrasal verbs

pairn.¹

† pairn.²

pairn.³

pairv.¹

pairv.²