chair

noun

1. 1

   An item of furniture used to sit on or in, comprising a seat, legs or wheels, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person.

   All I need to weather a snowstorm is hot coffee, a warm fire, a good book and a comfortable chair.

   I sat on my chair to have dinner.

   There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker armchairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs,[…], and all these articles[…] made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.

   Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.

2. 2

   The post or position of chairperson.

   The meeting began, with Mr Roberts in the chair.

3. 3

   The seating position of a particular musician in an orchestra.

   My violin teacher used to play first chair with the Boston Pops.

4. 4

   A cast-iron component used on railways to support bullhead rails and secure them to the sleepers.

   The wooden or steel keys used to secure bull-head rails in their chairs are usually driven in the direction of the traffic, so that the effects of rail-creep may be made use of to wedge the keys more firmly, rather than to encourage them to drop out.

5. 5

   One of two possible conformers of cyclohexane rings (the other being boat), shaped roughly like a chair.

6. 6

   A distinguished professorship at a university.

   In 1928 [Martin] Heidegger succeeded [Edmund] Husserl to take a chair at Freiburg […]

7. 7

   A vehicle for one person; either a sedan borne upon poles, or a two-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse; a gig.

   Enter Mortimer, brought in a Chayre, and Iaylors.

   She always leaves her Chair at the milliner's in the next Street.

   Think what an equipage thou haſt in air, And view with ſcorn two pages and a chair.

   The chairs came at the appointed hour, and Ethel could not but be amused at the glimpses she had of the park along which they were carried; although haunted by misgivings as to the judiciousness of their destination. They were set down in a hall of large dimensions, hung round with portraits, and filled with servants, who had more the air of guards.

8. 8

   The seat or office of a person in authority, such as a judge or bishop.

9. 9

   An assigned position in a beauty salon or barbershop.

   Melinda has the best chair in the salon.

10. 10

    Variant of chairpersonClipping of chairperson.

    Under the rules of order adopted by the board, the chair may neither make nor second motions.

    The Chair behaves himself like a Busby amongst so many school-boys[…]and takes a little too much on him.

    It can hardly be conceived that the Chair would fail to gain the support of the House.

    He was elected to the chair of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in 1827 at the newly-founded London University, and became prominent in railway controversies in the 'thirties, when he came off second best in a dispute with Daniel Gooch about the effects of speed on the human frame.

11. 11

    Variant of electric chairinformalEllipsis of electric chair (“device used for performing execution”).

    The court will show no mercy; if he gets convicted, it's the chair for him.

    "It was me. And I'm glad, damned glad, I didn't croak him. With this slick guy after me, it would be me for the chair."

    'All for a pig of a man who should have gone to the chair.'

    Believe it or not, it only looked like I was trying to send you to the chair.

verb

1. 1

   To act as chairperson at; to preside over.

   Bob will chair tomorrow's meeting.

   Dama ben Netina, the gentile "Mayor" of first-century Ashkelon, was once chairing a meeting of the City Council.

   Greenwood told RAIL she was disappointed that Parliamentary rules prevented her from chairing the TSC [Transport Select Committee] beyond last December's General Election, [...] She added: "I'm gutted I'm no longer able to chair the committee, I'm not going to lie. But I know it's in good hands and I'm still able to play my part as a member in the work we're doing.

2. 2

   To carry in a seated position upon one's shoulders, especially in celebration or victory.

   The time you won your town the race We chaired you through the marketplace.

3. 3

   To award a chair to (a winning poet) at a Welsh eisteddfod.

   The poet was chaired at the national Eisteddfod.

Forms

plural

chairs

past tense

chaired

past participle

chaired

present participle

chairing

third person singular

chairs