Library / English Dictionary

PAIR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

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)

Sense 2

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 3

Meaning:

A set of two similar things considered as a unit

Synonyms:

brace; pair

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

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 4

Meaning:

Two items of the same kind

Synonyms:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bring two objects, ideas, or people together

Example:

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

Synonyms:

couple; match; mate; pair; twin

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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 2

Meaning:

Engage in sexual intercourse

Example:

Birds mate in the Spring

Synonyms:

copulate; couple; mate; pair

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Arrange in pairs

Example:

Pair these numbers

Synonyms:

geminate; pair

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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 4

Meaning:

Occur in pairs

Synonyms:

geminate; pair

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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 5

Meaning:

Form a pair or pairs

Example:

The two old friends paired off

Synonyms:

couple; pair; pair off; partner off

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The 31 paired peripheral nerves formed by the union of the dorsal and ventral spinal roots from each spinal cord segment.

(Murine Spinal Nerves, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Your parents, my dear, have no more worldly wisdom than a pair of babies.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Nucleosomal repeat length is approximately 200 base pairs of DNA within which 146 base pairs are highly protected.

(Nucleosomal Repeat Length, NCI Thesaurus)

The pair paused and surveyed the locked dogs.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

SMAD3 and SMAD4 proteins specifically recognize an eight base pair palindromic DNA sequence that confers TGF-beta responsiveness to a minimal promoter.

(Mothers Against Decapentaplegic Homolog 3, NCI Thesaurus)

A coded value specifying the side of the body (or a paired organ) that is an access point for a procedure.

(Approach Anatomic Site Laterality Code, NCI Thesaurus)

A brougham and pair of greys, under the glare of a gas-lamp, stood before the doctor’s door.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“You have observed, of course,” said he at last, “that the ears are not a pair.”

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So Oz brought a pair of tinsmith's shears and cut a small, square hole in the left side of the Tin Woodman's breast.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

“I was so miserable,” she said, “when I came out, but that has all passed away; that is indeed a splendid bird, and he has given me a pair of red shoes.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)