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. the chair, Informal. 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. in the chair
   chairing a debate or meeting
8. take the chair
   to preside as chairman for a meeting, etc
9. the chair
   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 Words From

• chair·less adjective
• un·chair 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. get the chair, to be sentenced to die in the electric chair.
2. take the chair,
   1. to begin or open a meeting.
   2. to preside at a meeting; act as chairperson.

More idioms and phrases containing chair

see musical chairs .

Example Sentences

Brian Jones, the school's newly appointed chair of governors, said the child practice review team had visited the school on "several occasions" and staff had been given the "opportunity to share concerns or information that may be of use to them".

From BBC

Its Northern Ireland council chair Dr Alan Stout said the minister had told the BMA he was not in a position to make the full pay award.

From BBC

Starting Jan. 14, Melvin will take Kotb’s chair alongside Savannah Guthrie during the program’s flagship two hours from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

From Los Angeles Times

The plan was for Lamm, who was chair of FAIR’s advisory board, and Frank Morris, who was on the Center for Immigration Studies board, to run for seats in 2004, along with a Cornell University environmental scientist named David Pimentel, who had written extensively for The Social Contract.

From Salon

Academic Senate Chair Steven W. Cheung said the outcome has raised myriad questions for UC — whether funding for financial aid will be slashed, fragile gains in racial and gender equity undone, clean energy and fetal stem cell research buried and access to health care lost.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• armchair
• bench
• recliner