pair

About 28.61 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun Two alike 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. noun One of the constituent items that make up a pair.
3. noun Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.

   Spouses should make a great pair.

4. noun Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts).

   a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans

5. noun 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.

6. noun A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
7. noun A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.
8. noun A double play, two outs recorded in one play.

   They turned a pair to end the fifth.

Similar words

pair off twosome dyad duad twain couplet distich couple doubleton copulate

Often followed by

of is in and with to are was were

Word family

paired pairing pairs