| English > English | |
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| pairing | |
| 1. n. The combination or union of two things. |  |
| The seeds were adjusted to make sure that there were good pairings for the tennis tournament. | |
| 2. n. (politics) An agreement between two members of a legislative body holding opposite opinions to refrain from voting, so that both may absent themselves. | |
| pair | |
| 1. n. Two similar 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. | |
| 2. n. Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship. | |
| Spouses should make a great pair. | |
| 3. n. (Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only)) | |
| a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans | |
| 4. n. 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. n. (cards) A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand. | |
| 6. n. (cricket) A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match | |
| 7. n. (baseball, informal) A double play, two outs recorded in one play | |
| They turned a pair to end the fifth. | |
| 8. n. (baseball, informal) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams | |
| The Pirates took a pair from the Phillies. | |
| 9. n. (slang) A pair of breasts | |
| She's got a gorgeous pair. | |
| 10. n. (Australia, politics) The exclusion of one member of a parliamentary party from a vote, if a member of the other party is absent for important personal reasons. | |
| 11. n. Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time. | |
| There were two pairs on the final vote. | |
| 12. n. (archaic) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set. | |
| 13. n. (kinematics) In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion; named in accordance with the motion it permits, as in turning pair, s | |
| 14. v. To group into sets of two. | |
| The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party. | |
| 15. v. To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating. | |
| 16. v. (politics, slang) To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions. | |
| 17. v. (intransitive) To suit; to fit, as a counterpart. | |
| 18. v. (computing) to form wireless connection between to devices | |
| 19. v. (obsolete) To impair. | |
