PAIR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pair mean? 

• PAIR (noun)
  The noun PAIR has 4 senses:

1. a set of two similar things considered as a unit

2. two items of the same kind

3. two people considered as a unit

4. a poker hand with 2 cards of the same value

  Familiarity information: PAIR used as a noun is uncommon.

• PAIR (verb)
  The verb PAIR has 5 senses:

1. form a pair or pairs

2. bring two objects, ideas, or people together

3. occur in pairs

4. arrange in pairs

5. engage in sexual intercourse

  Familiarity information: PAIR used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PAIR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A set of two similar things considered as a unit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

brace; pair

Hypernyms ("pair" is a kind of...):

set (a group of things of the same kind that belong together and are so used)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pair"):

Tweedledee and Tweedledum; Tweedledum and Tweedledee (any two people who are hard to tell apart)

Derivation:

pair (bring two objects, ideas, or people together)

pair (occur in pairs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Two items of the same kind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

brace; couple; couplet; distich; duad; duet; duo; dyad; pair; span; twain; twosome; yoke

Hypernyms ("pair" is a kind of...):

2; deuce; II; two (the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number)

Meronyms (parts of "pair"):

fellow; mate (one of a pair)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pair"):

doubleton ((bridge) a pair of playing cards that are the only cards in their suit in the hand dealt to a player)

Derivation:

pair (arrange in pairs)

pair (occur in pairs)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Two people considered as a unit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("pair" is a kind of...):

assemblage; gathering (a group of persons together in one place)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pair"):

couple; duet; duo; twosome (a pair who associate with one another)

yoke (a pair of draft animals joined by a yoke)

Derivation:

pair (bring two objects, ideas, or people together)

pair (engage in sexual intercourse)

pair (form a pair or pairs)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A poker hand with 2 cards of the same value

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("pair" is a kind of...):

poker hand (the 5 cards held in a game of poker)

• PAIR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they pair    ... he / she / it pairs   
Past simple: paired   
Past participle: paired   
-ing form: pairing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form a pair or pairs

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

couple; pair; pair off; partner off

Context example:

The two old friends paired off

Hypernyms (to "pair" is one way to...):

unify; unite (act in concert or unite in a common purpose or belief)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

pair (two people considered as a unit)

pairing (the act of grouping things or people in pairs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bring two objects, ideas, or people together

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

couple; match; mate; pair; twin

Context example:

The student was paired with a partner for collaboration on the project

Hypernyms (to "pair" is one way to...):

join (cause to become joined or linked)

Verb group:

match (give or join in marriage)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pair"):

mismate (provide with an unsuitable mate)

mismatch (match badly; match two objects or people that do not go together)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

pair (two people considered as a unit)

pair (a set of two similar things considered as a unit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Occur in pairs

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

geminate; pair

Hypernyms (to "pair" is one way to...):

occur (to be found to exist)

Verb group:

geminate; pair (arrange in pairs)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

pair (a set of two similar things considered as a unit)

pair (two items of the same kind)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Arrange in pairs

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

geminate; pair

Context example:

Pair these numbers

Hypernyms (to "pair" is one way to...):

arrange; set up (put into a proper or systematic order)

Verb group:

geminate; pair (occur in pairs)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pair (two items of the same kind)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Engage in sexual intercourse

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

copulate; couple; mate; pair

Context example:

Birds mate in the Spring

Hypernyms (to "pair" is one way to...):

conjoin; join (make contact or come together)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pair"):

nick (mate successfully; of livestock)

bang; be intimate; bed; bonk; do it; eff; fuck; get it on; get laid; have a go at it; have intercourse; have it away; have it off; have sex; hump; jazz; know; lie with; love; make love; make out; roll in the hay; screw; sleep together; sleep with (have sexual intercourse with)

tread; serve; service (mate with)

deflower; ruin (deprive of virginity)

mount; ride (copulate with)

breed; cover (copulate with a female, used especially of horses)

bugger; sodomise; sodomize (practice anal sex upon)

sodomise; sodomize (copulate with an animal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

pair (two people considered as a unit)

pairing (the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes)

 Context examples 

The production of animals or plants by selective pairing.

(Breeding, NCI Thesaurus)

He was a winter late in redeeming his promise, but redeemed it was, for the last, least Silva got a pair of shoes, as well as Maria herself.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The paired upper chambers of the heart.

(Cardiac Atrium, NCI Thesaurus)

That eclipse will be tied to its partner eclipse of January 10, as eclipses come in pairs as powerful new and full moons.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A coded value specifying the side of the body (or a paired organ) where the anatomic site is in a biologic entity part.

(Biologic Entity Part Anatomic Site Laterality Code, NCI Thesaurus)

Cancer that occurs in both of a pair of organs, such as both breasts, ovaries, eyes, lungs, kidneys, or adrenal glands, at the same time.

(Bilateral cancer, NCI Dictionary)

“Oh! And that's all about it, is it?” she exclaimed, trimming his whiskers with a little restless pair of scissors, that went glancing round his head in all directions.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

These bases form specific pairs (A with T, and G with C).

(Base pair, NCI Dictionary)

Passing under a low door, and down a stone-flagged passage, they found themselves in a long narrow hall lit up by a pair of blazing torches, one at either end.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A type of footprinting technique used to define the location of protein-nucleic acid contacts at the base pair level in nucleic acids.

(Chemical Interference, NCI Thesaurus)