Wiktionary

chair

See also: chaïr and Chair

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English chayer, chaire, chaiere, chaere, chayre, chayere, from Old French chaiere, chaere, from Latin cathedra (“seat”), from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”). Displaced native stool and settle, which now have more specialised senses. Doublet of cathedra and chaise.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

 
A chair (item of furniture).
 
Chairs (rail supports on a railway).
 
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chair (plural chairs)

  1. An item of furniture used to sit on or in, comprising a seat, legs or wheels, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person. Compare stool, couch, sofa, settee, loveseat and bench.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, […], and all these articles […] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎[1]:
      Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
    All I need to weather a snowstorm is hot coffee, a warm fire, a good book and a comfortable chair.
  3. (often with definite article, also written Chair) Clipping of chairperson.
    Under the rules of order adopted by the board, the chair may neither make nor second motions.
    • 1658 March 23, Thomas Burton, John Towill Rutt, editor, Diary, London: Henry Colburn, published 1828, page 243:
      The Chair behaves himself like a Busby amongst so many school-boys […] and takes a little too much on him.
    • 1887 September 5, The Times:
      It can hardly be conceived that the Chair would fail to gain the support of the House.
    • 2020 June 3, Lilian Greenwood talks to Paul Stephen, “Rail's 'underlying challenges' remain”, in Rail, page 34:
      She adds: "I'd also like to think that as chair I was friendly but firm. I wanted to encourage people to give evidence, while there are others who need to be coaxed, held to account and asked tough questions."
  4. (music) The seating position of a particular musician in an orchestra.
    My violin teacher used to play first chair with the Boston Pops.
  5. (rail transport) An iron block used on railways to support the rails and secure them to the sleepers, and similar devices.
  6. (chemistry) One of two possible conformers of cyclohexane rings (the other being boat), shaped roughly like a chair.
  7. (informal, with the) Ellipsis of electric chair (“device used for performing execution”).
    The court will show no mercy; if he gets convicted, it's the chair for him.
    • 1920 June 1, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 216, column 2:
      "It was me. And I'm glad, damned glad, I didn't croak him. With this slick guy after me, it would be me for the chair."
    • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 251:
      'All for a pig of a man who should have gone to the chair.'
    • 1949, Isobel Lennart, Holiday Affair, spoken by Carl Davis (Wendell Corey):
      Believe it or not, it only looked like I was trying to send you to the chair.
  8. (education) A distinguished professorship at a university.
  9. A vehicle for one person; either a sedan borne upon poles, or a two-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse; a gig.
  10. The seat or office of a person in authority, such as a judge or bishop.

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

TranslationsEdit

chairperson — see chairperson
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

VerbEdit

chair (third-person singular simple present chairs, present participle chairing, simple past and past participle chaired)

  1. (transitive) To act as chairperson at; to preside over.
    Bob will chair tomorrow's meeting.
    • 2020 May 20, “Merriman praised over handling of TSC's 'virtual' transition”, in Rail, page 12:
      Greenwood told RAIL she was disappointed that Parliamentary rules prevented her from chairing the TSC [Transport Select Committee] beyond last December's General Election, [...] She added: "I'm gutted I'm no longer able to chair the committee, I'm not going to lie. But I know it's in good hands and I'm still able to play my part as a member in the work we're doing.
  2. (transitive) To carry in a seated position upon one's shoulders, especially in celebration or victory.
    • 1896, A. E. Houseman, "To An Athlete Dying Young," in A Shropshire Lad
      The time you won your town the race
      We chaired you through the marketplace.
  3. (transitive, Wales, UK) To award a chair to (a winning poet) at a Welsh eisteddfod.
    The poet was chaired at the national Eisteddfod.

TranslationsEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Stanley, Oma (1937), “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 6, page 16.

AnagramsEdit

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle French chair, char, from Old French char, charn (earlier carn), from Latin carnem, accusative of carō, from Proto-Italic *karō, from Proto-Indo-European *ker-, *(s)ker-. Doublet of carne.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

chair f (plural chairs)

  1. flesh

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

Further readingEdit

GalloEdit

VerbEdit

chair

  1. Alternative form of chaeir
    Une avion san liméro qu'est chaite ste netey à Eastdown dan le Sussex
    A plane without number that has crashed this night at Eastdown, Sussex

ManxEdit

AdjectiveEdit

chair

  1. Lenited form of cair.

NounEdit

chair f

  1. Lenited form of cair.

MutationEdit

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
cair chair gair
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Middle FrenchEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French char, charn, from Latin carnem, accusative singular of carō.

NounEdit

chair f (plural chairs)

  1. flesh

DescendantsEdit

Old FrenchEdit

VerbEdit

chair

  1. Alternative form of cheoir
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