tandems

Noun

tandem (countable and uncountable, plural tandems)

1. (also, attributive, countable) A carriage pulled by two or more draught animals (generally draught horses) harnessed one behind the other, both providing pulling power but only the animal in front being able to steer.
   • [H]e was a man whose head was at this time entirely full of gigs, and tandems, and unicorns: business was his aversion; pleasure was his business.1804, Maria Edgeworth, “The Contrast. Chapter II. Ignorance of Things, into which It is a Duty to Enquire, is the Cause of Many Odious Vices.”, in Popular Tales, volume III, London: Printed for...
2. (also, attributive, broadly) Two draught animals (generally draught horses) harnessed one behind the other.
   • Later in the day the Row is empty, but, on the other hand, the pleasure horse monopolises the circle, now comparatively deserted. Singly, in pairs, tandems, and fours, he draws the family carriage with a lozenge on the panels, the brougham of the fashionable doctor, the coupé of the popular...[1903], Charles Dudley, “Equine London”, in George R[obert] Sims, editor, Living London: Its Work and Its Play, Its Humour and Its Pathos, Its Sights and Its Scenes, special edition, volume II...
3. (also, attributive, broadly) A thing with two components arranged one behind the other.
   • If you want a canoe that can seat both of you comfortably, you’ll need a tandem.
4. (also, attributive, broadly) A hollow metal tube containing radioactive material, inserted through the vagina into the uterus to treat gynecological cancer.
   • If an interstitial implant is placed in a patient with an intact uterus, a tandem should be inserted and loaded with cesium 137 or iridium 192.2007, Akila N. Viswanathan, Daniel G. Petereit, “Gynecologic Brachytherapy”, in Phillip M. Devlin, editor, Brachytherapy: Applications and Techniques, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lippincott Williams &...
5. (also, attributive, countable, figuratively) A group of two or more machines, people, etc., working together; hence (uncountable), close collaboration.
   • Stubb's whale had been killed some distance from the ship. It was a calm; so, forming a tandem of three boats, we commenced the slow business of towing the trophy to the Pequod.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Stubb’s Supper”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 324
6. (also, attributive, figuratively, uncountable) A method of language learning based on mutual exchange, where ideally each learner is a native speaker in the language the other person wants to learn.
   • Spanish and English tandem learners discuss the meaning of a given word in a semi-structured conversation. […] Tandem learning is the term used to describe the learning which takes place when native speakers and learners of each other's language learn from each other and help each other learn. […]...2007, Jane Woodin, “Intercultural Positioning: Tandem Conversations about Word Meaning”, in Regina Weinert, editor, Spoken Language Pragmatics: An Analysis of Form-Function Relations, London; New...

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