paire

Noun

pair (plural pairs or (archaic or dialectal) pair)

1. Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
   • 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.1834 February, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter II, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume II, London: John Macrone, […], published 1836...
   1. One of the constituent items that make up a pair.
      • [S]he had finished the second sock, and pulled its pair out of the bag before handing them to her husband.1992, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Marking Time: Volume 2 of The Cazalet Chronicle, page 74
2. Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.
   • Spouses should make a great pair.
3. Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts).
   • a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans
4. A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.
   • A pair is harder to drive than two mounts with separate riders.
5. A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.

See all 25 meanings of pair