| 释义 |
▪ I. pair, n.1|pɛə(r)|
Forms: 3–5 peire, peyre, 4–7 paire, payre, (4–5 (9) pare), 4–6 payr, 5 peyr, (peyer, payir, 5–6 par, payer, 6 paier, parre, pere), 4– pair.
[ME. a. F. paire:—L. paria, pl. neut. of pār, pāri- equal, taken as sing. fem. Cf. L. pār sing. neut. (more than 50 examples in Durham Acc. Rolls, Surtees), It. † par, paio, Sp., Pg. par, OF. par, pair; also Ger., Du. paar (OHG., MHG. pār), Da., Sw., Icel. pār; the form par, pare, was in use also in ME.; pair, payr, without final -e, is occasional in 14–15th c.
Pair is now followed by of, as in ‘a pair of gloves’; but of was formerly omitted, as ‘a pair gloves’: cf. Ger. ein paar handschuhe. After a numeral pair was formerly used in the sing. form; ‘three pair (of) shoes’ = Ger. drei paar schuhe; this is still retained colloquially, and in certain connexions; but the tendency is now to say ‘three pairs’.]
I. Two associated together; a set of two.
1. a. Two separate things of a kind that are associated or coupled in use, usually corresponding to each other as right and left (less frequently as upper and under). Such are things worn on or adapted to the right and left limbs or sides of the body, as ‘a pair of gloves, leggings, shoes, stockings, spurs, stirrups, fetters, sculls’, etc.; also (colloq. and somewhat humorously) the two bodily members themselves, as ‘a pair of eyes, ears, lips, jaws, arms, hands, heels, legs, wings’, etc.; also, other things used side by side, as ‘a pair of folding doors, curtains’, etc.
[1278in Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 487 In 2 paribus arsuns.] c1290Beket 20 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 107 Ake euere he hadde ane peire feteres faste him up-on. 1375Barbour Bruce xiii. 463 Seven hundreth paris of spuris rede War tane of knychtis that war dede. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 256 And haue ymade many a knyȝte bothe mercere & drapere, Þat payed neuere for his prentishode nouȝte a peire gloues. c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 597 He hadde a paire Of legges and of feet so clene & faire. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xx. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 10 b/2 Somme [teeth] bene pares twey ouer and tweyne neþir. 1478W. Paston jr. in P. Lett. III. 237 Ij. schyrtes, and a peyer of sclyppers. 1579Nottingham Rec. IV. 184 A pere of shows for the neytar boye. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 75 Truth [doth] best, when it is spoken out, through a paire of open lips. 1678Butler Hud. iii. i. 791 Our Noblest Senses act by Pairs, Two Eyes to see, to hear two Ears. 1712Budgell Spect. No. 425 ⁋1 Thro' a Pair of Iron Gates. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. i, The girl rowed, pulling a pair of sculls very easily.
b. Hence various colloquial or familiar locutions:
pair of hands, a man; to take or show a clean or fair pair of heels: see clean a. 3 g, fair a. 8 d; pair of lawn sleeves, a bishop; pair of oars: see oar n. 3 a; another or a different pair of shoes or boots, a different matter; pair of wheels, a two-wheeled vehicle.
1598Florio s.v. Trasti della barca, As we saie the cushions in a paire of oares. 1623Cockeram i. s.v. Fenchmonth, Which fee, for a paire of Wheeles is foure pence, and for Paniers two pence. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 592 Her enemies brought ten hundred thousand paire of hands to pull downe the wals of Ierusalem. 1844Macaulay Ess., Earl of Chatham (1887) 817 At every levee, appeared eighteen or twenty pair of lawn sleeves. 1849T. Arnold Let. 28 Aug. in N.Z. Lett. (1966) 135 Nothing is easier than to make a beautiful scheme of education on paper, but to make it work is ‘quite another pair of shoes’, as they say in New Zealand. 1859Thackeray Virgin. II. xvi. 130 If Mr. George had been in the army, that..would have been another pair of boots. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xv, ‘That, sir’, replied Mr. Wegg,..‘is quite another pair of shoes’. 1931G. B. Shaw Widowers' Houses iii. 58 in Works, Dooty's another pair o' shoes. 1936W. H. S. Smith Let. 9 Aug. in Young Man's Country (1977) ii. 22 I've now had a good opportunity to get to know Hill... We haven't got many tastes in common, but I like him. Doha is a very different pair of shoes.
2. a. In the names of single articles of clothing, instruments, or tools, composed of two corresponding parts, which are not used separately, and consequently are named only in the plural: e.g. ‘a pair of breeches, trousers, or stays; a pair of scissors, tongs, bellows, compasses, spectacles, balances, stocks’.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8013 Amorewe uor to werie a peire of hosen [v.r. a peyre hose] of say. 1390Gower Conf. II. 318 Out he clippeth also faste Hire tunge with a peire scheres. c1425Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 657/16 Hic cucigna, A⊇ pare belows. 1530Palsgr. 182 Suche instrumentes or toles as we in our tong use to name by payres..a payre of bellows, a payre of stockes, a payre of spectacles. 1563Shute Archit. D j b, Take a paire of compasses and set the one poincte of the compasses..vpon y⊇ line vnder the Abacus. 1671Lady M. Bertie in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 23 She was so ill with wearing a paire of perfumed bodyes that she was forced to goe to bed. 1784Cook 3rd Voy. II. vii. 351 Our new visitor had on a pair of green cloth breeches. 1870Dickens E. Drood ii, Two pairs of nut-crackers.
b. Cricket. = a pair of spectacles s.v. spectacle n.1 7 c.
1862Bell's Life in London 29 June 7/5 Obtained that unenviable score, ‘a pair’. 1960Times 22 June 5/3 Willett and Gibson each completed a perfunctory ‘pair’. 1974Daily Tel. 12 June 34/1 Engineer, looking to save his pair, would have been run out first ball if Amiss's throw..had hit the stumps. 1977Sunday Times 27 Feb. 29/7, I wouldn't swop that ‘pair’ for anything. It taught me much of life and cricket.
3. Two persons or animals of opposite sexes.
a. A man and woman united by love or marriage; an engaged or married couple. happy pair: see happy a. 3.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 164 Many a peire sithen the pestilence, Han plight hem togideres. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. x. 16 A wanton payre Of lovers loosely knit. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 96 There shall the paires of faithfull Louers be Wedded, with Theseus, all in iollity. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 534 Live while ye may, Yet happie pair. 1727–46Thomson Summer 1172 Young Celadon And his Amelia were a matchless pair. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 105 Next at our altar stood a luckless pair. 1869A. B. Edwards Debenham's Vow lxiii, The newly-married pair were installed in a compartment by themselves.
b. Two partners in a dance.
1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 25 The dancing pair that simply sought renown By holding out to tire each other down. 1781Cowper Hope 13–14 As in a dance the pair that take the lead Turn downward, and the lowest pair succeed. 1844Dickens Christmas Carol ii, Three or four and twenty pair of partners;..people who would dance.
c. A mated couple of animals.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 335 Of vche horwed, in ark halde bot a payre. a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 107 The smale foules.. They peyned hem, ful many a peyre, To synge on bowes blosmed feyre. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 6 b, There is a paire of them, Male and Female. 1795Cowper Pairing Time 44 All pair'd, and each pair built a nest. 1838Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XVI. 733/1 They [eagles] not only pair, but continue in pairs all the year round; and the same pair procreates year after year.
4. a. A set of two; two individuals (persons, animals, or things) of the same kind taken together; esp. when associated in function, purpose, or position; a couple, brace, span. Sometimes said of two objects of different kind when intimately associated and viewed as a group. to be a pair: of persons, to be two of a kind, to be as bad as one another (colloq.)
a1300Floriz & Bl. 566 Swiche him serueþ a day so faire Amoreȝe moste anoþer peire. 1418E.E. Wills (1882) 32, ij peire of my best shetes. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 236 [He] Took out of helle soulys many a peyre. c1430― Reas. & Sens. 218. c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 225 Vpon the bawk thai hangit mony par. 1486Bk. St. Albans F vj, A Couple or a payer of botillis. 1575Laneham Let. (1871) 8 A payree of great whyte syluer lyuery Pots for wyne. 1638–9in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 210 Paire of Sawyers for 29 dayes. a1703Burkitt On N.T. Mark vi. 13 The Jesuits send forth their emissaries by pairs. 1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) III. 639 [Vicia lutea] Flowers sometimes in pairs. 1800Wordsw. Pet Lamb 14, I watched them with delight, they [maiden and lamb] were a lovely pair. 1840Thackeray in Fraser's Mag. Jan. 107/2 ‘I' faith, I believe you're a pair,’ said Mr. Wood. ‘Pray, sir, keep your tongue to yourself..’ cried Mrs. Catherine, with proper spirit. 1856G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. xii, The pair [horse and rider] looked what the gentlemen call ‘all over like going’. 1873Proctor Elem. Astron. xiii. 121 The stars of the pair are seen to circle round each other. The very fact that they so circle shows not only that they form a real pair, but that they attract each other. 1914G. B. Shaw Fanny's First Play i. 178 Dora: We both get a bit giddy when we're lighthearted. Him and me is a pair, I'm afraid. 1931M. Allingham Police at Funeral v. 69 She was a damned bad-tempered old harpy! And so was Andrew—they were a pair. 1967J. Rosenberg Double Darkness i. i. 46 It's only her own respectability she thinks of. Like you. You're a pair. 1976‘D. Fletcher’ Don't whistle ‘Macbeth’ 86 It's a creepy feeling... Aren't we a pair? Come on. Let's go back and cheer ourselves up.
b. Short for pair of horses, two horses harnessed and running together.
1727Fielding Love in Sev. Masques v. xiii, Six Flanders mares the former drives, The latter but a pair. 1782Cowper Gilpin 12 All in a chaise and pair. 1863Chambers's Bk. Days I. 554/2 Who would dare to call two horses anything but a pair when they are harnessed to a carriage, though they may be two in any other situation? 1866Mrs. J. H. Riddell Race for Wealth xxiii, Let..Mrs. Robinson drive out with a pair.
c. In Parliamentary language, two voters on opposite sides who mutually agree to abstain from voting in order to be absent from a division without affecting the relative position of parties. Also, such an agreement between opposite sides.
1819C. Arbuthnot Let. 14 Mar (1941) 16 It is expected of them all to be there during the whole course of every evening, & that the coming down merely to get a pair will not do. 1845Disraeli Sybil iv. i, ‘We want a brace of pairs’, said Lord Milford. ‘Will you two fellows pair?’ 1889Daily News 5 Apr. 4/7 The actual majority, however, would have been the same in any case—a pair is a pair; one for, one against. 1894Ibid. 11 May 5/2 Sir John Gorst..was originally paired with Mr. Robertson,..the pair being ‘off’, Sir John Gorst was available for pairing with the Home Secretary. A still later arrangement shifted the pair to another member of the Opposition, leaving Sir John Gorst free to vote. 1965New Statesman 19 Mar. 426/2 One minister..was flatly refused a pair by his Tory opposite number. 1976Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 18 Nov. 3/4 Sir Harold had to cancel a flight to Geneva at the last minute because, he claimed, the Tories changed their minds about providing him with a pair in the Commons division.
d. Short for ‘pair of oars’: see oar n. 3 a, b.
1885Whitaker's Alm. 400/1 The two old Oxonians, Lowndes and D. E. Brown, were undoubtedly the best pair. 1890Ibid. 590/2 Looker and Clark of the Thames won the Senior Pairs.
e. In other connexions: e.g.
pair of cards, two of the same value (see also 6); pair of colours, two flags belonging to a regiment, one the royal, the other the regimental flag; hence, the position or commission of an ensign; cf. colour 7 c; pair of dice, a set of two; pair of indentures, knives, etc.: see these words.
c1386Chaucer Pard. T. 295 The kyng..Sente him a paire of dees of gold in scorn. 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester in Singer Hist. Cards (1816) 348 A pair is a pair of any two, as two kings, two queens, &c. 1745Swift Direct. Servants, Footman, From wearing a livery, you may soon probably carry a pair of colours. 1747–1871 [see colour n. 7 c]. 1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle 80 (Cribbage) If the adversary were then to play another five, he would..score two for the pair.
f. Mech. Two mechanical elements that together constitute a kinematic pair (see kinematic a. b).
1876A. B. W. Kennedy tr. Reuleaux's Kinematics of Machinery i. 43 The kinematic elements of a machine are not employed singly, but always in pairs; or in other words,..the machine cannot so well be said to consist of elements as of pairs of elements. Ibid., If a kinematic pair of elements be given, a definite motion can be obtained by means of them if one of the two be held fast or fixed in position. Ibid. xiii. 549 If we put a normal or normally crossed pair in place of one of the parallel pairs we obtain a chain which is constrained, and which contains five cylinder pairs. 1905Smith & Marx Machine Design i. 13 The helical surfaces by which a nut and screw engage with each other are called a twisting pair. 1969G. D. Redford et al. Mech. Technol. ii. 24 Two links which interact directly with, and mutually constrain, each other form a kinematic pair. Ibid., Shafts in plain bearings, pin⁓jointed links, slide bars and slide blocks, screw and nut assemblies are all forms of lower pairs. 1975Mabie & Ocvirk Mechanisms & Dynamics of Machinery (ed. 3) i. 9 A pair that permits only relative rotation is a revolute or turning pair, and one that allows only sliding is a sliding pair.
g. In basket-making (see quots. 1910 and 1912).
1897A. Firth Cane Basket Work vi. 42 Take No. 3 [spoke]..bringing it down beside No. 1 and behind No. 4.., making one ‘pair’ of ends turned down. The canes forming these ‘pairs’ must each in turn be kept side by side..and held perfectly flat under the thumb till the next ‘pair’ is down. 1904O. T. Mason Indian Basketry I. iii. 94 Two-rod foundation.—One rod in this style lies on top of the other; the stitches pass over two rods in progress and under the upper one of the pair below, so that each stitch incloses three stems in a vertical series... The alternate rod, or the upper rod, in each pair will be inclosed in two series of stitches. 1910Encycl. Brit. III. 482/2 The ‘pair’, two rods worked alternately one over the other, used for filling up bottoms and covers of round and oval baskets. 1912T. Okey Introd. Basket-Making 153 Pair, two rods of willow or cane worked alternately over and under each other—the reverse of a fitch. 1953[see fitch n.3].
h. Ellipt. for ‘a pair of breasts’.
1922Joyce Ulysses 231 Hell's delights! She has a fine pair. 1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 174 ‘Who was that tart you had round here before?’ ‘Gloria?’ ‘Yeah. Tell you what, she's got a right pair on her.’
5. Sometimes a mere synonym for two, and formerly used loosely for a few, two or three. Now mostly superseded in this use by a couple.
1599Massinger, etc. Old Law ii. ii, What is't to bide A little hardness for a pair of years, or so? 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xii. (1623) 704 Fewer by a paire of thousands. 1629Shirley Wedding 1, I may be compeld within A pair of minutes to turn ashes. 1630B. Jonson New Inn ii. ii, To entertain you for a pair of hours. 1837Landor Pentameron, 5th Day's Interview Wks. 1853 II. 348/2 Your mention of eggs..has induced me to fancy I could eat a pair of them.
II. A set, not limited to two.
6. a. A set of separate things or parts forming a collective whole; e.g. a set (of gallows, harness, numbles, etc.); a suit (of armour); a string (of beads); a pack (of cards); a complex musical instrument, as ‘a pair of organs, clavichords, virginals, bagpipes’; a chest (of drawers). a pair of arrows, a set of three arrows (Cent. Dict. 1890). All Obs., or only dial. (But see b, c.)
13..Cursor M. 7896 (Cott.) Þe king a pair o letters [v.rr. a letter, lettres] writte Did, and gaf him-self to ber. 1340Ayenb. 258 Þet on wyfman ssel habbe uor hare body ine one yere zuo uele payre of robes. 1377–1697 Peyre bedes, pare of bedes, etc. [see bead n. 2]. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1263 And somme woln haue a paire plates large. 1426Paston Lett. I. 12 Certeyns maffaisours..the seyd John Grys..by the space of a myle to a payre galwes ledden. 1493in Chappell Pop. Mus. (1879) I. 49 Delivered to a merchaunt for a pair of Organnes 30{pstlg}. 1513Douglas æneis vii. iv. 74 Apoune the postis also mony ane payr Off harnes hang. 1530Palsgr. 182 Vnes cartes, a payre of cardes to playe with. 1558Will of Hinton (Somerset Ho.), A paier of virginalls. 1632Lithgow Trav. vi. 285 Fourty paire of Chaplets. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. ii. (1674) 3 A pair of Cards, which the Serjeants..found in his pocket. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 62 He's as proud of these, as a High⁓lander is of a Pair of Bag-pipes. 1825Jamieson s.v., ‘A pair o' Carritches’, a catechism; ‘a pair o' Proverbs’, a copy of the Proverbs, used as a school-book; ‘a pair o' pullisees’, a complete tackle of pullies, etc. 1852Thackeray Esmond iii. vii, We had a pair of beautiful old organs in Castlewood Church. 1853Carleton Traits & Stories (1860) I. 263 A thin, sallow little man, with a pair of beads, as long as himself. 1880J. H. Shorthouse John Inglesant xx. 267 You remind me of some of the rich oratories I have seen..; where everything is beautiful and costly, but where a classic statue of Apollo stands by the side of a crucifix, a Venus with Our Lady, a Cupid near St. Michael, and a pair of beads hanging on Mercury's Caduceus. 1894Northumbld. Gloss. s.v. Pair, ‘A pair (= chest) of drawers.’ ‘A pair of cards’... ‘A pair o' pipes’... All these terms are in common general use. 1930Amer. Speech V. 427 A necklace is sometimes called a pair o' beads in the Ozarks. 1962A. Jobson Window in Suffolk vi. 102 She would refer to a necklace as a pair of beads. 1976Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1973 lx. 16 One informant called it [sc. a string of beads] a pair of beads.
b. pair of stairs: a flight of stairs. Often used as equivalent to floor or storey, as two pair of stairs, or shortly, two pair, the second floor or storey. Also attrib., as in a one (or two) pair (of stairs) lodging, room, window, etc.
1530Palsgr. 182 Vngz degrez, a payre of stayres. 1628Earle Microcosm., Tauerne (Arb.) 33 A Tauerne Is a degree, or (if you will) a paire of stayres aboue an Alehouse. 1662J. Strype in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 178 One [Chamber], which is a very handsome one, and one pair of stairs high. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4668/4 Numb. 5. in Brick Court in the Middle Temple Lane, two pair of Stairs, on the Right-hand. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xiv. vi, That Nightingale should procure him either the Ground Floor, or the two Pair of Stairs. 1761F. Sheridan Sidney Bidulph III. 127 Working for my bread in a two pair of stairs room. 1836Dickens Let. c 24 Aug. (1965) I. 170 His notion of the Bedroom is rather more derived,..from his own fourth pair back. 1844― Mart. Chuz. ii, Mr. Pecksniff..turned him loose in a spacious room on the two-pair front. 1853Clough in Longfellow's Life (1891) II. 257, I stay in there, up two pair,..from eleven to five daily. 1922Joyce Ulysses 316 And who was he, tell us? A nobody, two pair back and passages, at seven shillings a week.
c. pair of steps: a flight of steps; also, a portable set of steps used in a library, etc.
1755in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 155 A breast wall and pair of steps from the shore or road up to the Ladies' Walk. 1761Colman Genius No. 2. in Prose Sev. Occas. (1787) I. 25, I could as easily have scaled the monument, as have come at the tip of her chin without the help of a pair of steps. 1884W. Aldis Wright Bible Word-bk. (ed. 2) s.v., We still speak of a ‘pair’ of steps or stairs.
7. (Also written pare.) A company of miners working together (Cornwall, America); a team of mules carrying tin.
1846J. Trenoodle Spec. Dial. 26 (E.D.D.) Ef Franky's peere wornt drunk. 1855J. R. Leifchild Cornwall 146 Though the takers or one pitch vary from two to twelve in number... This partnership is termed a pair of men, whatever the number may really be. 1871Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Eng. I. 202 One ‘pair’ (two or more men working in common) may be losing money. 1882W. Cornw. Gloss., Pair of moyles (mules), usually about thirty, for carrying tin. 1883Standard 28 Sept. 3/6 (Cornwall) A ‘pare’ of ten men were working at a night shift underground.
8. In roulette (with pronunc. pɛr), an even number, or a number marked ‘pair’.
1850, etc. [see noir 2 a]. 1902[see impair n.2]. 1953,1969[see manque]. 1973[see impair n.2].
III. 9. attrib. and Comb.: pair-bond, the relationship formed during the courtship and mating of a pair of animals or two people; so pair-bonding vbl. n., the formation of such a relationship or the patterns of behaviour that help to establish it; pair case (see quot.); pair-feed v. trans., to feed two groups of (experimental animals) with a diet identical except for the item whose effects are being tested on one group; so pair-fed ppl. a.; pair-formation, the pairing of animals, esp. birds, in preparation for breeding; pair-light, a window of two lights (light n. 10); pair-mate v. trans., to test the sexual compatibility of (experimental animals) by allowing mating within and between each of two groups; also, to control the mating of (experimental animals) so that each male mates with only one female, or vice versa; so pair-mating vbl. n.; pair production Nuclear Physics, the conversion of a gamma-ray photon into an electron and a positron.pair-skating, skating performed by pairs; pair-toed a. Ornith., having the toes in pairs, two before and two behind.
[1939G. K. Noble in Auk LVI. 265 If pairs of birds or fishes are to form a bond between themselves they must develop behavior different from the feeding or locomotion of non-breeding members of the group.] 1940D. Lack in Condor XLII. 282 In some species of birds, the sexes..form a very temporary *pair-bond. 1954Behaviour VI. 279 The intruder male [sc. a zebra finch] succeeded in breaking the old pair-bond, won the female over, built her a new nest, and began a fresh cycle with her. 1963Listener 31 Jan. 204/1 The two [sc. gannets] perform an elaborate mutual display which is concerned with strengthening the pair bond. Ibid. 204/2 The length and intensity of this display is greatest when the pair bond is weakest, that is, when the couple are newly mated. 1969Times 11 Apr. 12/6 The..tree sparrow, a species in which the pair bond is usually strong. 1970J. Kear in J. H. Crook Social Behaviour in Birds & Mammals 358 The pair bond and its stability is obviously of great consequence to parental behaviour. 1974Country Life 7 Mar. 491/1 In few mammals is the pair bond so strong;..a [beaver] couple may remain paired for up to 18 years. 1977D. Morris Manwatching 88 A sign of old friendships or pair-bonds is that two people can sit together in a peaceful silence without feeling the need to keep up a stream of cheerful chatter.
1965New Scientist 17 June 768/1 *Pair-bonding..is the ornithologist's in-phrase for procreative conjunction between sexually ardent cocks and hens. 1967D. Morris Naked Ape ii. 62 The pair-bonding mechanism in our species [sc. Homo sapiens], although very powerful, is far from perfect. 1978Listener 12 Jan. 35/2 The interplanetary visitor..would quickly conceptualise pair-bonding in what we call marriage.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 183 [The] *Pair Case [was] the old style of casing watches with an inner watch case containing the movement and an outer case quite detached from the inner.
1972Science 19 May 795/1 Rat litter-mates were *pair-fed nutritionally adequate liquid diets. Ibid., The animals fed alcohol had 72 percent more hydroxyproline in hepatic protein than did pair-fed controls. 1974Nature 4 Jan. 48/2 Hamsters were made vitamin A deficient by maintenance on a vitamin A deficient diet starting at day 10–14 after birth; controls were pair-fed with the same diet supplemented with vitamin A... Tracheas were removed from the vitamin A deficient and pair-fed control hamsters.
1940D. Lack in Condor XLII. 269 There is probably more ignorance concerning *pair-formation than there is of any other aspect of bird behavior. 1950Brit. Birds XLIII. 392 Pair-formation [of marsh-tits] takes place at all times of the year. 1967A. Manning Introd. Animal Behaviour v. 105 In some birds the female becomes dominant after pair formation. 1970J. Kear in J. H. Crook Social Behaviour in Birds & Mammals 358 Pair-formation itself is influenced by plumage changes, display and maturity. 1971J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man xxxiv. 484 Apparently in baboons and even chimpanzees and gorillas there is no long-lasting pair formation.
1868G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 183 It [sc. a tower] is pierced with *pair-lights first, higher with a triplet.
1944Genetics XXIX. 526 One hundred and six Azusa wild males [sc. fruit-flies] were *pair-mated to standard grade 20 Wooster bobbed females.
Ibid. 529 Two genes were tested by each pair-mating. 1968R. Rieger et al. Gloss. Genetics & Cytogenetics 327 Pair mating, a procedure used to determine the degree of sexual isolation between two groups (A and B) of individuals. Separate tests of mating success are made for the four possible mating combinations.
1934Physical Rev. XLV. 137/1 For energies above twenty million volts the predicted *pair production is even greater than that computed by Oppenheimer and Plesset. 1958W. K. Mansfield Elem. Nucl. Physics v. 43 The three methods of interaction of γ-rays with matter are Compton scattering, photo-electric absorption and pair production. 1973L. J. Tassie Physics Elem. Particles ii. 9 Electron-positron pair production has a threshold of 1·022 MeV. Pair production cannot occur in free space, because the conversion of a photon into a pair cannot conserve both total energy and momentum... Some other particle must be present.
1902Daily Chron. 14 Feb. 4/7 To this event succeeded the *pair-skating competition.
1868Proc. Zool. Soc. 316 A few Cuckoos represent the *Pair-toed Coccygomorphæ.
▪ II. † pair, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
[f. pair v.2; but the text is doubtful.]
Impairment, abatement.
c1375Cursor M. 7382 (Fairf.) Iesse welcomed him ful faire Samuel him talde wiþ outen payre.
▪ III. pair, v.1|pɛə(r)|
[f. pair n.1]
1. a. trans. To make a pair by matching (two persons or things or one with another); to place together as adapted or suited to each other; to provide with a ‘fellow’ so as to make a pair.
1613Sir E. Sackville in Guardian No. 133 My lord..had not paired the sword I sent him to Paris; bringing one of the same length, but twice as broad. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 26, I can pair, with Sea-Shells, several of these Fossil ones. 1849Bryant Innoc. Child, Innocent child and snow-white flower! Well are ye pair'd in your opening hour. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 231 The French ambassador and the French general were well paired.
†b. To be a match for; to match, equal. Obs.
1603Drayton Odes xvi. 8 That Shee which I adore, Which scarce Goodnesse selfe can payre.
2. intr. To ‘go’ with, so as to match.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 116 Had our Prince..seene this houre, he had payr'd Well with this Lord; there was not full a moneth Between their births. 1756Home Douglas ii. i. 24 He might have..pair'd with him in features and in shape. 1879E. Garrett House by Works I. 52 There was no other figure which could pair with Barbara's.
3. a. trans. To arrange (two persons or things) in a pair or couple; to associate or bring together as mates or antagonists; to pair off (a number of persons or things), to put two by two or in pairs.
1607Beaum. & Fl. Woman-Hater iv. ii, Virtue and grace are always paired together. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 24 Thus these two [Captain and Lieutenant] are generally pair'd like marry'd Couples. 1711Steele Spect. No. 113 ⁋4, I made new Liveries, new-pair'd my Coach-Horses. 1881Tylor Anthropol. ix. 223 Each warrior is paired with an opponent.
b. To arrange in couples of opposite sexes, as for dancing, dinner, etc.; esp. to unite in love or marriage; to mate (animals). Also absol.
1673Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada iii. iii, Ye gods, why are not hearts first paired above? 1702Pope Sappho 44 Turtles and doves of diff'ring hues unite, And glossy jett is pair'd with shining white. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxix, It is only whilst the timid stag is paired with the doe, that he is desperate and dangerous. 1841E. C. Grey Little Wife II. vii. 61 If you go on pairing and matching in this manner..you will be the terror of the whole of the male species. 1895M. Corelli Sorrows Satan xi, The Earl proceeded to ‘pair’ us all. ‘Prince, you will take Miss Fitzroy,—Mr. Tempest, my daughter falls to your escort’.
c. In the British Parliament and other legislative bodies: to bring (an opponent) into an agreement to abstain from voting on a given question or for a certain time.
1956Abraham & Hawtrey Parl. Dict. 127 If a member wishes to be absent from the House, he may arrange with a member of the opposite party, who also wishes to be absent, that neither shall attend the House, or at least vote in a division, for an agreed time. They are then said to be ‘paired’. 1968W. Safire New Lang. Politics 315/2 When supporters of John F. Kennedy explained that their candidate was seriously ill at the time of the McCarthy censure, liberal Democrats refused to accept the excuse because, they argued, ‘the Senator could have been paired against McCarthy’. 1973Courier & Advertiser (Dundee) 21 Feb. 11/3 Mr Teddy Taylor (Cathcart), who did not vote, as he was ‘paired’ with Mr Ronald King Murray (Leith), said, ‘It is a victory for the people.’ 1974Times 18 Mar. 2/8 The Conservatives have said that they will only pair sick MPs with sick MPs, and there are no invalids on the Tory side.
4. a. intr. To come together in couples; to form a couple; to become companions or associates; esp. in the British Parliament and other legislative bodies, to make an agreement with an opponent that both shall abstain from voting on a given question or for a certain time (see pair n. 4 c); also to pair off.
a1711Ken Sion Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 393 And tho' no Marriages are there, We yet may, like the Cherubs, pair. 1772Debates & Proc. Brit. House of Commons 1768–1770 240 At dinner time many made no scruple, though the cause was not determined, of pairing off, as it is called; some pair'd off for every question in the election, others for a day, or a few hours only. 1810G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 464 Several members had paired. 1811T. Creevey Let. 21 Jan. in Creevey Papers (1963) iv. 76, I am not to vote to-night... Villiers won't release me from contract of pairing off. 1817Parl. Deb. 744 Sir B. Hobhouse paired off in favour of the motion with General Thornton. 1852Macaulay in Trevelyan Life (1876) II. 352, I went down to the House and paired. 1866Harper's Mag. May 805/2 This vote was given under peculiar circumstances. Mr. Morrill, of Maine, had sometime previously ‘paired off’ with Mr. Wright of New Jersey, [etc.].. 1885Times (weekly ed.) 6 Mar. 14/2 Sir E. Watkin neither voted nor paired on Friday night. 1964Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 8 Apr. (1970) 102 Those committed as being safe for the bill..those who were absent and might ‘pair’ if you got to them and could find them an opposite number. 1965New Statesman 19 Mar. 426/2 It is further alleged that one Conservative, at least, saw fit to pair with two Labour members.
b. To unite with one of the opposite sex; to become mates in love or marriage; to couple or mate.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 154 Your hand (my Perdita:) so Turtles paire That neuer meane to part. 1775Sheridan Rivals ii. i, There never can be but one man in the world, whom a truly modest and delicate woman ought to pair with in a country-dance. 1793Cowper A Tale 15 A chaffinch and his mate... They paired, and would have built a nest. 1828Scott F.M. Perth ii, Hawks, far less eagles, pair not with the humble linnet. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile xxii. 680 The pigeons are pairing; the time of the singing of birds is come.
c. to pair off, to go off or apart in pairs; also to pair off with (colloq.), to marry.
1803G. Colman John Bull i. 9 Come, Mrs. Brulgruddery, let you and I pair off, my lambkin. 1827Lytton Pelham xxi, This couple soon paired off, and was immediately succeeded by another. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Consid. Wks. (Bohn) II. 415 Suppose the three hundred heroes at Thermopylæ had paired off with three hundred Persians. 1865M. E. Braddon Sir Jasper xxxv, [If they] would only make a match of it, I should be free to pair-off with the lively widow. 1881Mrs. A. B. Church Cecily's Debt III. i, The other guests..paired off amongst themselves.
d. In basket-making: to work two rods alternately one over the other.
1901A. Firth Cane Basket Work (ser. 2) iv. 45 Pair round once to divide into twos, still keeping the central side spokes undivided. Ibid., Now turn the basket upside down and pair round once, taking two lots of double spokes together each time, and keeping the row of pairing even with the edge of the weaving.
e. to pair up, to form couples, esp. (of birds) to form pairs in preparation for mating; also, to match.
1908A. W. Myers Compl. Lawn Tennis Player 134 The prevalent custom..is for the members to ‘pair up’ irrespective of style and temperament. 1920E. O'Neill Beyond Horizon ii. 37 Don't you think them two'd pair up well? 1937Brit. Birds XXX. 267 As soon as a couple of birds have paired up, they proceed to exclude other Grebes from a certain area. 1951L. MacNeice tr. Goethe's Faust 170 One's bosom finds this paper light to nurse, It pairs up snugly with a billet doux. 1965D. Lack Life of Robin (ed. 4) v. 66 The blackbird apparently pairs up in late autumn.
Hence ˈpairing ppl. a.
1828Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XVI. 733/1 Pairing birds..flock together in February, in order to choose their mates.
▪ IV. pair, v.2 Obs. or dial.
Forms: 4–5 peire, (pere, 5 peiere, pey(e)r), 4–6 peyre, payre, 4–7 paire, 3–7 (dial. –9) pair, (dial. and Sc. 4–9 pare, 5–6 par, 6 payr, peare).
[Aphetic f. apeyre, apayre, appair, q.v.]
†1. trans. = appair 1, impair 1; to make worse; to lessen. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 8407 He that better can mend þen pere [v.r. paire, payre, peire]. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 123 Vr Fader Adam heo falde wiþ Feire biheste; Apoysende Popes and peyreþ holy chirche. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 399 He bulde newe citees and amended citees þat were i-peyred. 1503Hawes Examp. Virt. v. 26 For that wyll payre and yll thy name. 1546J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 73, I will..mend this house, and payre an other. 1573Tyrie Refut. To Rdr. in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.) 10 Nother eikand nor pearand ane word. 1625Bacon Ess., Innov. (Arb.) 527 Euer it mends Some, and paires Other.
2. intr. = appair 2, impair 2; to become or grow worse, to deteriorate, to fall off. Now dial.
c1320Cast. Love 228 God whrowght never that thyng But hit peyred thowrgh his wonnyng. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 296 Now alle þe cuntre peires, vnneþis ouht þei left. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 438 Þis is cause whi þe world peyreþ. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 11206 It was dight wel & fair That he myght neuere rote ne pair. c1470Henry Wallace i. 14 Bot God abuff has maid thar mycht to par. 1491Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. vii. 10 b/1 The whiche vestymentes neuer payred in desert. 1530Palsgr. 655/2, I peyre, I waxe worse. 1597Bp. Hall Sat. vi. i. 84 Somewhat it was that made his paunch so peare, His girdle fell ten ynches in a yeare. 1650T. Froysell Serm. (1652) 41 So doe his gifts begin to flag and paire in him. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pare, to give a less quantity of milk. ‘T'cow pares feafully’. 1870R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes Scot. 364 Februar, an ye be fair The hoggs 'll mend, and naething pair.
▪ V. pair
obs. form of pare v. |
