Pronunciations (7)
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/pɛə/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/pɛɹ/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
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/peː/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
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/ˈpeə/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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/ˈpiə/
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/ˈpeɹ/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
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/ˈpɜː/
Noun
Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Ting, ting, ting! went the bell again. Every body sat down; the curtain shook, rose sufficiently high to display several pair of yellow boots paddling about, and there it remained.
Day after day, with the stamp and shuffle of sixty pair of bare feet behind me, each pair under a 60-lb. load.
More examples (2)
So, one evening, I made a speech in English with gestures, not one of which was lost to the sixty pairs of eyes before me, and the next morning I started the hammock off in front all right.
Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.
I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair.
Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of. One of the constituent items that make up a pair.
- Examples
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[S]he had finished the second sock, and pulled its pair out of the bag before handing them to her husband.
Must be good at athletics, home repairs, making mince interesting and finding the pair to the other glove.
Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.
- Examples
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Spouses should make a great pair.
Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts).
- Examples
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a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans
A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.
- Examples
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A pair is harder to drive than two mounts with separate riders.
A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.
- Synonyms
A double play, two outs recorded in one play.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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They turned a pair to end the fifth.
A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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The Pirates took a pair from the Phillies.
A boat for two sweep rowers.
A pair of breasts.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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She's got a gorgeous pair.
A pair of testicles.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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Grow a pair, mate.
The exclusion of one member of a parliamentary party from a vote, if a member of the other party is absent for important personal reasons.
Usage- Australia
Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time.
- Examples
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There were two pairs on the final vote.
More examples (1)
One-line business is optional; three-line business compulsory; when it's two lines you have to be on parade unless you have secured a 'pair' and cleared it with the 'pairing whip'.
A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Thou lieſt; I ha’ nothing buy my ſkin, / And my cloaths; my ſword here, and my ſelf; / Two Crowns in my pocket; two pair of Cards; / And three falſe Dice: I can ſwim like a fiſh / Raſcal, nothing to hinder me.
It would never do, you know, for me to be plunging myself into poverty and shabbiness and love in one room up three pair of stairs, and all that sort of thing.
In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion; named in accordance with the motion it permits, as in turning pair, sliding pair, twisting pair.
Verb
To group into one or more sets of two.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party.
More examples (1)
Brown as I am, an Ethiopian dame / Inspired young Perseus with a gen’rous flame; / Turtles and doves of diff’ring hues unite, / And glossy jet is paired with shining white.
to link two electronic devices wirelessly together, especially through a protocol such as Bluetooth.
- Examples
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It was not possible to pair my smartphone with an incompatible smartwatch.
More examples (1)
If your computer has a built-in, non-Microsoft transceiver, you can pair the device directly to the computer by using your computer’s Bluetooth software configuration program but without using the Microsoft Bluetooth transceiver.
To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
Usage- Transitive
To come together for mating.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The raven, in short, when he pairs, which he does at the earliest moment permitted by the laws of ravendom, pairs for life […]
To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
Usage- Slang
To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
My Heart was made to fit and pair with thine, / Simple and plain, and fraught with artleſs Tenderneſs; / Form’d to receive one Love, and only one, / But pleas’d and proud, and dearly fond of that, / It knows not what there can be in Variety, / And would not if it could.
Verb
To impair, to make worse.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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Why dreghis þou þis dole, & deris þi seluyn? / Lefe of þis Langore, as my lefe brother, / Þat puttes þe to payne and peires þi sight.
More examples (1)
It were good therefore, that Men in their Innouations, would follow the Example of Time it ſelfe ; which indeed Innouateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees, ſcarce to be perceiued : For otherwiſe, whatſoeuer is New, is vnlooked for ; And euer it mends Some, and paires Other […]
'No faith so fast', quoth she, 'but flesh does pair'
To become worse, to deteriorate.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
Noun
a set of two similar things considered as a unit
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
two items of the same kind
two people considered as a unit
- Broader terms
a poker hand with 2 cards of the same value
- Broader terms
Verb
form a pair or pairs
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The two old friends paired off
bring two objects, ideas, or people together
- Broader terms
- Examples
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This fact is coupled to the other one
Matchmaker, can you match my daughter with a nice young man?
More examples (1)
The student was paired with a partner for collaboration on the project
occur in pairs
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
arrange in pairs
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Pair these numbers
engage in sexual intercourse
- Examples
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Birds mate in the spring