chair

[chair]

noun

1. a seat, especially for one person, usually having four legs for support and a rest for the back and often having rests for the arms.

2. something that serves as a chair or supports like a chair.

   The two men clasped hands to make a chair for their injured companion.

3. a seat of office or authority.

4. a position of authority, as of a judge, professor, etc.

5. the person occupying a seat of office, especially the chairperson of a meeting.

   The speaker addressed the chair.

6. (in an orchestra) the position of a player, assigned by rank; desk.

   first clarinet chair.

7. Informal.,  the chair, electric chair.

8. chairlift.

9. sedan chair.

10. (in reinforced-concrete construction) a device for maintaining the position of reinforcing rods or strands during the pouring operation.

11. a glassmaker's bench having extended arms on which a blowpipe is rolled in shaping glass.

12. British Railroads.,  a metal block for supporting a rail and securing it to a crosstie or the like.

verb (used with object)

1. to place or seat in a chair.

2. to install in office.

3. to preside over; act as chairperson of.

   to chair a committee.

4. British.,  to carry (a hero or victor) aloft in triumph.

verb (used without object)

1. to preside over a meeting, committee, etc.

chair

/ tʃɛə /

noun

1. a seat with a back on which one person sits, typically having four legs and often having arms

2. an official position of authority

   a chair on the board of directors

3. the person chairing a debate or meeting

   the speaker addressed the chair

4. a professorship

   the chair of German

5. railways an iron or steel cradle bolted to a sleeper in which the rail sits and is locked in position

6. short for sedan chair

7. chairing a debate or meeting

8. to preside as chairman for a meeting, etc

9. an informal name for electric chair

verb

1. to preside over (a meeting)

2. to carry aloft in a sitting position after a triumph or great achievement

3. to provide with a chair of office

4. to install in a chair

Gender Note

Is it chair, chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson? See chairperson.

Other Word Forms

• chairless adjective
• unchair verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of chair¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English chaiere, from Old French, from Latin cathedra; cathedra

Word History and Origins

Origin of chair¹

C13: from Old French chaiere, from Latin cathedra, from Greek kathedra, from kata- down + hedra seat; compare _cathedral

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. take the chair,

   1. to begin or open a meeting.

   2. to preside at a meeting; act as chairperson.

2. get the chair, to be sentenced to die in the electric chair.

see musical chairs.

Example Sentences

The 16 member public accounts committee, which is widely seen as one of the most powerful at Westminister, has a Labour majority but is chaired by Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

Read more on BBC

Later, as Fed chair in May 2007, he expected the problems of subprime would not have “significant spillovers” on the financial system or the rest of the economy.

Read more on Barron's

If you knew nothing of Cheever’s work, you might sit up in your chair with surprise at that sentence—for its eruption of uncontainable joy expressed via an almost comically surreal image.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Rowlands, who grew up in Wales, chairs the philosophy department at the University of Miami.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Click the trigger and the BlackFly noses down, bringing the pilot to a position more like a gaming chair than an ejection seat.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• armchair 
• bench 
• recliner