pair | Lernwerd

Forms

1.Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
- I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair.
- Must be good at athletics, home repairs, making mince interesting and finding the pair to the other glove.
- Day after day, with the stamp and shuffle of sixty pair of bare feet behind me, each pair under a 60-lb. load.
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).
- Which pair of shoes is yours?
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.

1.To group into one or more sets of two.
- The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party.
- Brown as I am, an Ethiopian dame / Inspired young Perseus with a gen’rous flame; / Turtles and doves of diff’ring hues unite, / And glossy jet is paired with shining white.
2.to link two electronic devices wirelessly together, especially through a protocol such as Bluetooth.
- It was not possible to pair my smartphone with an incompatible smartwatch.
3.To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
4.To come together for mating.

Common· #1670

From Middle English paire, from Old French paire, from Latin paria (“equals”), neuter plural of par (“pair”).

Related to pār (“equal”, adjective).

Compare Saterland Frisian Poor (“pair”), West Frisian pear (“pair”), Dutch paar (“pair”), German Paar (“pair”), Italian paio (“pair”)