I. ˈche(ə)r, -a(a)(ə)r, -eə, -a(a)ə noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English chayere, from Old French chaiere, from Latin cathedra, from Greek kathedra, from kata- cata- + hedra seat, from hezesthai to sit — more at sit
1.
a. : a usually movable seat that is designed to accommodate one person and typically has four legs and a back and often has arms
b. : something used to serve as such a seat or to support in the manner of such a seat
lower a rope chair over the side of the ship to bring up the captain's wife
made a chair of their clasped hands to carry the lame hiker
c. : electric chair
d. : a glassworker's bench with two extended arms on which the blowpipe is rolled back and forth while the glass is being fashioned
e. : one of the suspended seats on a chair lift
2.
a. : an official seat or a seat of authority, state, or dignity (as of a chief magistrate, a judge, a professor, or a bishop)
b. : an office or position of authority or dignity (as of a bishop, a mayor of an English corporate town, a professor, or one who presides on a committee or at a meeting)
the gubernatorial chair
the chair of comparative literature at the university
c. obsolete : pulpit
d. : chairman
it is polite to address the chair in a large meeting
3.
a. : sedan chair
b. : a formerly popular light one-horse carriage (as a chaise or gig)
4.
a. : an office in a society (as a fraternal organization)
b. : a position of employment usually of one occupying a chair or desk
a chair as editorial writer
specifically : the position of a player in an orchestra or band
the first viola chair
auditioning for the drum chair
5. : one of a number of devices that hold up or support: as
a. : a support or carriage of a railroad rail ; specifically : an iron or steel block or plate forming a kind of socket or clutch supporting a rail or securing it to a sleeper or tie
b. : a supporting block or socket for a pipe where it passes over a wall or pier
c. : a support for holding reinforcing bars in position while concrete is being placed, the supports and bars becoming part of the permanent structure
6. : a team of three or more glassworkers who make glass by hand — see footmaker , gaffer , servitor
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1.
a. : to place in a chair
b. : to install formally in a chair of office or honor ; specifically : to install (the successful competitor) at a Welsh eisteddfod in a chair of honor
2.
a.
(1) : to carry in or as if in a chair
(2) chiefly Britain : to carry originally in a chair, now usually on the shoulders of several members of a group as an expression of acclaim
the time you won your town the race we chaired you through the market place — A.E.Housman
b. : to wheel in a chair
3. : to provide with a chair or chairs
4. : to preside at (a meeting or program)
the president of the society, who chairs the proceedings — Robert Craft
5. : to be the chief officer of (a committee or any group whose chief officer is customarily called chairman )
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration (influenced by chair ) (I) of Middle English chare, from Old French char, from Latin carrus — more at car
: chariot
IV. noun
: chair form