| 释义 |
▪ I. chair, n.1|tʃɛə(r)|
Forms: 3 chaere, 4 cheiere, chaȝer, 4–5 chaier(e, chayer(e, 5 chaiare, chare, schayer, cheyer, cheare, chayr, 5–7 chayre, 6 cheyar, 6–7 chaire, 7– chair.
[ME. chaere, chaiere, a. OF. chaëre (western and Anglo-Fr.), chaiere (= Pr. cadera, cadeira, Cat. cadira, OSp. cadera, Pg. cadeira):—L. caˈtedra, cathedra seat, a. Gr. καθέδρα, see cathedra. Cha-iè-re was the regular OF. phonetic descendant of ca-ˈted-ra; it was in Eng. also orig. of three syllables, afterward reduced to two ˈcha-yer, and finally (? under later F. infuence) to one, chair. In the dialects it is still commonly of two, as Sc. cha-yer (ˈtʃejər). In mod.Fr. the phonetic variant chaise (see chaise n.) has taken the popular senses, while chaire is restricted to the ecclesiastical or professorial cathedra.]
1. a. A seat for one person (always implying more or less of comfort and ease); now the common name for the movable four-legged seat with a rest for the back, which constitutes, in many forms of rudeness or elegance, an ordinary article of household furniture, and is also used in gardens or wherever it is usual to sit. to take a chair: to take a seat, be seated.
a1300Cursor M. 9954 A tron of iuor graid. Was neuer yeitt king ne kaiser, Þat euer sait in sli[c] chaier [G. chayer, T. chaiere, F. cheiere]. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 321 Up a chaere he [Cnut] sat adoun, al vp þe see sonde. 1382Wyclif Matt. xxi. 12 He turnyde vpsadoun the bordis of chaungeris, and the chaiers of men sellynge culueris. 1382― Song of Sol. iii. 9 A chaȝer..of the trees of Liban. c1400Mandeville xxiii. 253 Men setten him in a Chayere. c1450Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 723 Hec cathedra, a chare. c1450Merlin xxi. 362 He sholde do sette ther a cheyer. 1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 40 Tables, coberdes, cofers & chayres. 1555― Decades W. Ind. i. v. (Arb.) 85 Thynges necessary to bee vsed, as cheyars. 1564Haward Eutropius iv. 39 In a chaire fast besides him. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. ii. 17 Like a Barbers chaire that fits all buttockes. 1704Steele Lying Lover ii. (1747) 36 Set chairs and the Bohea Tea and leave us. 1751Johnson Rambl. No. 141 ⁋10 Mistaking a lady's lap for my own chair. 1753Scots Mag. XV. 36/2 She..desired me to take a chair. 1840Marryat Poor Jack xlvi, Take a chair. 1870Mrs. Gaskell Cranford viii. 116 The chairs were all a-row against the walls.
b. With various substantives or adjs. indicating the nature, material, purpose, etc., as bed-chair, bedroom chair, camp chair, cane chair, compass chair, folding chair, garden chair, hall chair, kitchen chair, leather chair, library chair, lobby chair, obstetrical chair, office chair, rocking chair, swinging chair, Turkey chair, wheel-chair; † great-chair (dial. big-chair), an arm-chair. Also arm-, bath- (n.2), curule-, easy-, elbow-chair.
1580Baret Alv. C 295 A compasse chaire: halfe a circle, hemicyclus. 1711Steele Spect. 52 ⁋3 An easy chair..at the upper End of the Table. 1711Addison Spect. No. 72 ⁋4 The great Elbow-chair which stands at the upper end of the Table. 1737Ozell Rabelais V. 220 Easy Leather-Chairs made..with..Springs. 1790J. C. Smyth in Med. Commun. II. 477, I..found him..sitting in a great chair. 1796H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 539 Having requested the indulgence of an easy chair at the sittings of the French Academy..the King, instead of one easy chair, sent forty to the Academy. 1830Galt Lawrie T. iv. i. (1849) 145 He sat in the swinging chair. 1841Thackeray Sec. Fun. Nap. iii, A servant passes, pushing through the crowd a shabby wheel-chair.
c. A glass-blower's seat furnished with long arms upon which he rolls the pontil; hence, the gang of men consisting of the glass-blower and his assistants.
1845G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. IV. 51 Another workman receives it and sits down in a chair having two flat parallel arms sloping downwards. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 137 Every two crucibles supply one ‘chair’. The glassworker's chair is practically his lathe. 1897Worc. County Express 3 Apr., There were ten chairs at the works, each occupied by a glassmaker, servitor, and footmaker. 1902B'ham Daily Post 2 Apr., Eighty is the limit number of strawstem wineglasses to be made in six hours by a ‘chair’, which consists of three men and a boy. 1962Gloss. Terms Glass Ind. (B.S.I.) 23 Chair, a special long-armed chair in which the craftsman sits when shaping glass. Ibid. 45 Chair, a team or gang of workers producing blown or pressed glassware by hand.
d. = electric chair (s.v. electric a. 2). U.S.
1900‘Flynt’ & Walton Powers that Prey 170 He was a copper, and we fly cops have got to send some bloke to the chair for blastin' him. 1917J. Farnol Definite Object xviii. 173 I've left papers—proofs, 'n' it'ud be the chair for yours—savvy? 1926G. D. H. & M. I. Cole Blatchington Tangle xiv. 102 The discovery of the murderer's handkerchief..was the means of bringing a most notorious criminal to the chair.
2. fig.
a. Seat.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. xxxv, Yf ye wyll tell me where your herte is set. In the chayre of sorowe no great doubt it is. 1547–64Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) ix. 4 Our soules sit in a sure chaire of a certaine expectation. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxv. §7 Imagination, the only storehouse of wit and peculiar chair of memory. 1738Wesley Psalms i. 1 The Persecutor's Guilt to share Oppressive in the Scorner's Chair.
b. As an attribute of old age, when rest is the natural condition.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 51. Ibid. iv. v. 5 When saplesse Age, and weake vnable limbes Should bring thy Father to his drooping Chaire.
3. a. A seat of authority, state, or dignity; a throne, bench, judgement-seat, etc.
a1300[see 1].
c1325E.E. Allit. P. B. 1218 Nabigo-de-nozar noble in his chayer. 1393Gower Conf. III. iv. 125 Ianus with double face In his chare hath take his place. c1440Gesta Rom. 400 (Add. MS.) Sette hym in the Chayere as domysman. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. i. (Arb.) 21 O how it greeues my vexed soule to see, Each painted asse in chayre of dignitie. 1667Milton P.L. i. 764 At the Soldans chair Defi'd the best of Panim chivalry. 1757Gray Bard ii. iii, Close by the regal chair Fell Thirst and Famine scowl. 1879Maclear Celts ix. 146 Holdelm..was chosen by him as the seat of his episcopal chair.
b. fig. Place or situation of authority, etc.
1382Wyclif Matt. xxiii. 2 Vpon the chaier of Moyses, scribis and Pharisees seeten. c1400Rom. Rose 6891 ‘Uppon the chaire of Moyses’..That is the olde testament. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 38 Euery man may not syt in the chayre. 1692Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. iii. (1851) 82 He and Tiberius got into the Chair by the Tricks and Artifices of their Mothers. 1859Tennyson Enid 1788 He rooted out the slothful officer..And in their chairs set up a stronger race.
c. A chair occupied by a Welsh bard at an Eisteddfod, esp. one awarded as a trophy; also, a convention, now each of the four conventions, connected with the Welsh Eisteddfod.
1820Cambro-Briton I. 36 He was placed, by the general voice, in the bardic chair, and invested with a blue ribbon. 1874Cassell's Mag. IX. 431/1 The grand event of the whole Eisteddfod..—the giving of the Chair Prize. 1877Encycl. Brit. VII. 791/1 The chair was a kind of convention where disciples were trained, and bardic matters discussed preparatory to the great Gorsedd... There are now existing four chairs in Wales. 1909T. R. Roberts The Eisteddfod 27 The earliest Eisteddfodau, or ‘Chairs’ as they were then called,..were held under the patronage of the Princes of Wales at the beginning of the sixth century. Ibid. 36 The Gwyneddigion offered a silver chair to the bard who could write the best verses.
4. a. The seat of a bishop in his church; hence fig. episcopal dignity or authority. Obs. or arch.
1480Caxton Chron. Eng. xl. 28 Seynt peter preched in antyoche and ther he made a noble chirche in whiche he sate fyrste in his chaier. 1591Troub. Raigne K. John ii. (1611) 109 Treade downe the Strumpets pride, That sits vpon the Chaire of Babylon. 1642Jer. Taylor Episc. (1647) 337 S. Peter would have advanc'd him to the Honour and power of the Bishops chaire. 1647Brevint Saul at Endor 15 His first Chair, namely that of Antioch. 1757Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. Wks. X. 465 Henry..took measures, not only to humble Becket, but also to lower that Chair [of Canterbury]. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 292 Ealdhun now moved his chair to a site nobler than that occupied by any other minster in England.
†b. = see. Obs.
1615G. Sandys Trav. 3 It is the chaire of an Archbishop; inhabited for the most by Grecians. 1647[see 4 a].
†5. A pulpit. Obs.
1648Milton Tenure Kings (1650) 45 A charge not performed by mounting twise into the chair with a formal preachment. 1873Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 1279 Whether he preach in chair, or print in book.
6. a. The seat from which a professor or other authorized teacher delivers his lectures.
c1449Pecock Repr. v. vi. 518 To be rad..in the chaier of scolis. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 506 His prudent presiding in the Professors chair. 1691–8Norris Pract. Disc. (1711) III. 219 Our Saviour..should have taken the chair, and have given the Inquisitive World a clear determination concerning the Question. a1711Ken Hymnoth. Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 14 Give that small Insect you contemn, The Chair in Porch or Academ. 1876Green Short Hist. iii. §4. 129 English scholars gathered in thousands round the chairs of William of Champeaux or Abelard.
b. Hence: The office or position of a professor.
1816Scott Antiq. xxxi, Fighting his way to a chair of rhetoric. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits xii. Wks. (Bohn) II. 93 Many chairs and many fellowships are made beds of ease. 1875M. Arnold Ess. Crit. Pref. 10 note, The author had still the Chair of Poetry at Oxford.
7. A seat of judicial inquiry; a tribunal.
1629Chas. I. in H. Cox Instit. i. ix. (1863) 158 Now there are so many chairs erected, to make inquiry upon all sorts of men. 1645Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 348 For a Licenser is not contented now to give his single Imprimatur, but brings his chair into the Title leaf; there sits and judges up or judges down what book hee pleases.
8. The seat, and hence the office, of the chief magistrate of a corporate town; mayorship. past, above, or below the chair (of aldermen of the City of London): having served or not served as Lord Mayor.
1682Eng. Elect. Sheriffs 26 Some people..did so industriously stickle for Sir John Moor's Election to the Chair. 1714Lond. Gaz. No. 5261/4 The Aldermen below the Chair on Horseback in Scarlet Gowns. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v. Chain, A gold chain..remains to the person after his being divested of that magistrature, as a mark that he has passed the Chair. 1766Entick London IV. 263 The judges are the lord-mayor, the aldermen past the chair, and the recorder. 1885Whitaker's Almanack 251 All the above have passed the Civic Chair.
9. a. The seat occupied by the person presiding at a meeting, from whence he directs its business; hence, the office or dignity of chairman of a meeting, or of the Speaker of the House of Commons.
In various phrases, as to take the chair, to assume the position of chairman, which in most cases formally opens a meeting; to put in the chair, to elect as chairman; in the chair, acting as chairman; to leave or vacate the chair, to cease acting as chairman, which marks the close of a meeting.
1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. (1843) 118/1 The committee of the Commons appointed Mr. Pym to sit in their chair. 1659in Burton Diary (1828) IV. 462, I move that your Speaker forbear the Chair. 1806Med. Jrnl. XV. 536 That the thanks of this meeting be given to Dr. Brandreth, for his cool and patient attention and conduct in the Chair. 1807Crabbe Newspaper 163 Pleased to guide His little club, and in the chair preside. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. i, John Hampden..was put into the chair.
b. Often put for the occupant of the chair, the chairman, as invested with its dignity (as the throne is for the sovereign), e.g. in the cry Chair! Chair! when the authority of the chairman is appealed to, or not duly regarded; to address the chair, support the chair, etc. Now also used as an alternative for ‘chairman’ or ‘chairwoman’, esp. deliberately so as not to imply a particular sex.
1658–9in Burton Diary 23 Mar. (1828) 243 The Chair behaves himself like a Busby amongst so many school-boys..and takes a little too much on him. 1676–7Grew Salts in Water i. §1 (Read bef. Royal Soc.), It was referred to Me by this Honourable Chair, to examine and produce the Experiment. 1837Dickens Pickw. i, Cries of ‘Order’, ‘Chair’, ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Go on’. 1860All Y. Round No. 46. 475 An amiable discussion between the ‘chair’ and an..obstinate person at the other end of the room. 1887Times 5 Sept. 9/2 It can hardly be conceived that the Chair would fail to gain the support of the House. 1976Miller & Swift Words & Women (1977) v. 76 Seventeen members of the university's Department of Linguistics, including the department's distinguished chair, Calvert Watkins, had written a letter to the Crimson on the subject of the students' action. 1982J. A. Sharwood in Occasional Papers Univ. Sydney (Austral. Lang. Res. Centre) xx. 29 The chairman of directors of each packing company is called the chair. 1984New Yorker 13 Aug. 37/1 Martha Layne Collins..is to serve as chair of the Convention. 1986Tribune 12 Sept. 7/1 She has annoyed the Black Sections by refusing to resign as chair of the party black advisory committee.
c. pl. The chairman and deputy chairman of the East India Company.
1772Burke Corr. (1844) I. 344 This seems to be the scheme most approved by the chairs. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 499 Letter from the Chairs to the Right Honourable Robert Dundas, 16th December, 1808.
†10. An enclosed chair or covered vehicle for one person, carried on poles by two men; a sedan.
1634Sir S. Duncombe's Patent for setting up Sedans in Pegge Curial. Misc. 290 In many parts beyond the seas the people there are much carried in the streets in chairs that are covered. 1647R. Stapylton Juvenal 12 Using close chayres or sedans. 1688Shadwell Sqr. Alsatia ii. ii, Thy Mask will cover all. There is a chair below in the Entry to carry thee. 1713Swift Cadenus & V., She..lik'd three footmen to her chair. 1722Steele Consc. Lovers i. ii, Call a Chair! 1752Johnson Rambl. No. 195 ⁋6 At the proper time a chair was called. 1777Sheridan Trip Scarb. ii. i, Help the gentleman into a chair, and carry him to my house. 1836J. Mayne Siller Gun, The belle and beau, In chairs and chariots, stop the way.
11. A light vehicle drawn by one horse; a chaise; also a particular kind of light chaise (see quot. 1795). Also attrib.
1753Scots Mag. XV. 31/2 The profits..have enabled me to set up a one-horse chair. 1761Sterne Tr. Shandy III. xxiv. 124 There is not a greater difference between a single-horse chair and madam Pompadour's vis a vis. 1795W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. 184 A chair is a light chaise without pannels for the use of parks and gardens, and is a name commonly applied to all light Chaises. 1821Combe (Dr. Syntax) Wife i. 614 As I please to take the air, Command the ponies to a chair. 1909R. W. Chambers Firing Line ix, They went together in a double chair, spinning noiselessly over the shell road. Ibid. xiv, Their black chair-boy lay asleep under a thicket of Spanish bayonet.
12. Railways.
†a. The support or carriage of a rail (cf. carriage 32 b). Obs.
b. An iron or steel socket with a deep notch, into which the rail is fixed, and by which it is secured to the sleeper or cross-tie.
1816Specif. Losh & Stephenson's Patent No. 4067. 2 To fix both the ends of the rails..immoveable in or upon the chairs or props by which they are supported. 1836Sir G. Head Home Tour 204 Each of these sleepers being a heavy block of stone, having a small cradle of iron, or chair as it is called, rivetted on the top for the purpose of supporting the rails. 1862Smiles Engineers III. 131 The flat base of the chair upon which the rails rested being tilted.
13. Min. (See quot.)
1802Mawe Mineral. Derbysh. Gloss., Chair, used in drawing up ore or coal.
14. Phrase. to put in the chair. (slang.)
1864Soc. Sc. Rev. I. 408 Some hirers [i.e. drivers of cabs]..boast of the number of owners whom they have ‘put in the chair’ or in polite English neglected to pay.
15. Comb., as chair-attendant, chair-back, chair-bearer, chair-bottoming, chair-caner, chair-caning, chair-cover, chair-factory, chair-hire, chair-leg, chair-maker, chair-mare, chair-mending, chair-room, chair-saddle, chair-slumber; chair-ridden, chair-shaking, adjs.; chair-back, (a) the back of a chair; (b) an anti-macassar; chair-bard [Welsh cadair fardd], the successful competitor in the bardic competition held on ‘chair day’ of the Welsh National Eisteddfod; chair-bed, -bedstead, a kind of chair which can be unfolded into a bed; chair binder (see quot. 1921); † chair-boll, -bow, a chair-back; chair-borne a., Mil., ironically descriptive of troops whose duties are administrative; cf. air-borne a.; also absol.; chair-car orig. U.S., a railway carriage furnished with chairs (two on each side of the aisle) instead of the usual seats; also, a parlour car (see parlour 6); chair-carver (see quot.); chair day, the chief day of the Welsh National Eisteddfod (see quot.); chair-days, old age, when rest in a chair is the most natural condition; chair-door (see quot.); chair frame maker, chair-framer (see quots.); chairlady (orig. U.S.) = chairwoman; chair-lift (see lift n.2); chair-marking slang (see quots. and sense 14); so chair-mark v. and n., chair-marked ppl. a.; chair matter (see quot.); chair-organ (see quots.); chair-post U.S., one of the main uprights of a chair; chair-rail (see quot.); chair road, a railway having the rails fastened by chairs to the sleepers; chair rusher , seater = chair matter; chair-side attrib., of or pertaining to dental work performed while the patient is seated in a dentist's chair; also in other uses (see quots.); chair-table, a table convertible into a chair or settle; chair turner, a wood turner who specializes in chair legs, rails, etc.; † chair-volant, sedan-chair; chair-warmer slang, orig. Theatr. (see quot. 1909); hence gen. a ‘passenger’ in any enterprise or situation. Also chairman n., etc.
a1953Dylan Thomas Quite early one Morning (1954) 33 The clip of the *chair-attendant's puncher.
1747H. Glasse Art of Cookery xxii. 166 Hang the rest of your Bedding on the *Chair-backs. 1858Trollope Dr. Thorne III. xxxv. 89, I should like to work it into a chair-back instead of floss-silk. 1883Lady C. Schreiber Jrnl. (1911) II. 405, I did some work, cutting up some lengths of Turkish embroidery into chair backs.
1874Cassell's Mag. IX. 431/1 The successful competitor will be installed as the *Chair Bard. 1895Daily News 20 May 5/3 The chair-bard for this year of the Welsh National Eisteddfod.
1647R. Stapylton Juvenal 110 *Chair-bearers or Sedan⁓men.
1805Times 7 Nov. 1/2 (Advt.), Sofa Beds, *Chair Beds, and Tables. 1912C. Mackenzie Carnival xxiii. 235 Mr. Dale was generally comatose on a flock-exuding chair-bed in what was known as ‘dad's room’.
1881Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 53 *Chair..Binder. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §504 Chair binder, tacks hessian or other stuffing cover over padding of back and seat of chair and over webbing under seat.
1556J. Heywood Spider & F. lxxxiv. 20 Vpon the *cheyreboll hard beating his fist.
1943C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 21 *Chair-borne division, manned by uniformed personnel who labour in offices. 1947N. Balchin Lord, I was Afraid 166 The old sneer of the airborne at the chair⁓borne. 1954J. Masters Bhowani Junction 171 For Christ's sake, wake up, you chairborne bastard.
1483Cath. Angl. 57 A *chare bowe, fultrum.
1887Century Mag. Oct. 858/2 Broom-making, *chair-bottoming, and the cobbling of shoes.
1868Times 27 Feb., Described as a *chair-caner.
1906Daily Chron. 9 Mar. 8/5 Umbrella-mending, *chair-caning..are..genteel occupations to be pursued by the caravan ‘smart set’.
1880G. A. Sala Amer. Revisited 166/2 The Pullman Parlor car—commonly termed a ‘*chair’ car. 1901Westm. Gaz. 11 July 6/1 A fire..partially destroyed a dining car and a chair-car. 1909‘O. Henry’ Options (1916) 210 My chair-car was profitably well filled with people of the kind one usually sees on chair-cars. 1969National Herald (New Delhi) 29 July 4/4 The average number of air-conditioned chair car seats occupied per trip was 290.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Chair-carver, one employed in carving the upright posts and other parts of beds, arm-chairs, sofas, &c.
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 227 The ornaments, the reticules, bell-ropes, ottomans, and *chair-covers.
1877Encycl. Brit. VII. 792/1 The great day of the Eisteddfod is the ‘*chair’ day— usually the third or last day—the grand event of the Eisteddfod being the adjudication on the chair subject and the chairing and investiture of the fortunate winner.
1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. ii. 48 In thy Reuerence, and thy *Chaire-dayes, thus To die in Ruffian battell. 1865Cornh. Mag. July 38 The end of life is the ‘sere of life’..In Yorkshire it is ‘the chair-day’.
1906Hardy Dynasts II. vi. vi, In addition to the grand entrance..there is a covert little ‘*chair-door’..for sedans only.
1827Drake & Mansfield Cincinnati viii. 65 Six *Chair Factories, 38 hands. 1903Daily Chron. 10 Mar. 10/4 Foreman required for large chair factory.
1897Daily News 9 Mar. 2/6 *Chair frame maker. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §473 Chair frame maker, chair framer, assembles parts of chair frames, prepared by woodworking machinist.
1762Goldsm. Nash 10 Who spend more in *chair hire than housekeeping.
1925New Republic 16 Sept. 92 In the clothing trades there are union shop chairmen and *chairladies who exercise a workers' control that [etc.]. 1931Atlantic City News 7 Aug. 10/4 Mrs. Joseph Foy is chairlady of the card party. 1959P. Bull I know the Face i. 15 A lovely play..which..was written by Miss Bertha Graham, the chairlady of The 1930 Players.
1813Examiner 15 Feb. 102/1 J. Finlayson,..*chair-maker.
1799Jane Austen Lett. (1884) I. 221 Price sixty guineas, of which the *chair mare was taken as fifteen.
1890Pall Mall Gaz. 18 Sept. 7/3 Unless these particulars are filled in no cabman can get employment; and it is almost as difficult for him if the licence is ‘*chair-marked’. This is done in several ways: one is by writing big; another by writing out the date..a third by using red..ink. ‘Chair-marking’ is generally the result of spite... At Marylebone..a cab proprietor was fined {pstlg}5 and costs for ‘chair-marking’. 1894Daily News 23 Oct. 2/6 This he contended was a ‘chair mark’, conveying to other proprietors the information that he had not paid his cab hire up. 1939H. Hodge Cab, Sir? 218 Certain employers attempted to pass comments about drivers..by writing the date in code... It was called: ‘chairmarking’.
1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §472 *Chair matter; chair rusher; chair seater; weaves rushes, by hand, into chair seats or frames.
1694Lond. Gaz. No. 2955/4 Following the Trade of *Chairmending in the Streets.
1636–7Royal Warrant in N. & Q. Ser. iii. (1867) XI. 11/2 Our Chapell at Hampton Court, and for the making of a newe *Chaire Organ there, Conformable to those alreadie made in our Royal Chapells at Whitehall and Greenwiche. 1880Grove Dict. Mus., Chair organ, a corruption of Choir organ, in use in the last century, not impossibly arising from the fact that in cathedrals the choir organ often formed the back of the organist's seat.
1788Amer. Museum IV. 519 The snake was..about the thickness of a common *chair-post. 1872Congress. Globe App. 578/2 They went out and got great big long brushes, as big as these chair posts. 1911Roxboro (N.C.) Courier Nov., The snake was as large around as a chair post.
1842–75Gwilt Archit. Gloss., *Chair Rail, a piece of wood fastened to the wall, to prevent the backs of the chairs injuring the plastering when placed against it.
1885Pall Mall G. 28 May 4 [There] sat the mother..*chair-ridden by sciatica.
1895Westm. Gaz. 12 July 2/1 In America the authorities assert that our *chair roads are not strong enough to stand their traffic.
1664Pepys Diary (1879) III. 14 There comes out of the *chayre-room Mrs. Stewart.
1865Pall Mall G. 11 Apr. 11 A lady on a donkey in one of those *chair-saddles which supply the place of side-saddles in the south of Spain.
1819L. Hunt Indicator No. 1 *Chair-shaking merriment.
1950M. Palyi Compulsory Medical Care 77 [Dentist's] actual *chairside work. 1958Times 12 Sept. 2/7 (Advt.), Young assistant required for old-established busy dental practice... Chairside assistance. 1963J. Osborne Dent. Mech. (ed. 5) viii. 100 Both methods..require somewhat more chair-side and laboratory time. 1966Listener 18 Aug. 238/3 New kinds of trains are being planned..with standards of..service borrowed from the airlines—chairside meals and so forth. 1966‘S. Ransome’ Hidden Hour iii. 38 He reached for the extension telephone on the chairside table.
1558A. Cranewise in Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmund's (Camden Soc., 1850) 150, I giue to my sonne Thomas..my round *chaire table in the parlour. 1891I. W. Lyon Colonial Furniture 197 A chair table is mentioned in the inventory of John Copse, of Watertown, Mass., made in 1644. 1909Cent. Dict. Suppl., Table-chair... Also chair-table.
1904Daily Chron. 5 Jan. 2/7 He was a *chair turner by trade.
1667Denham Direct. Painter i. viii. 18 Rupert, that knew no fear, but health did want, Kept state suspended in a *Chair volant.
1909Ware Passing Eng. 69/1 A ‘*chair-warmer’ is a lady whose talent is comprised in her physical charms, and who can neither sing, dance, nor act. 1926J. Black You can't Win viii. 101 The judge frowned at me. The courtroom chair warmers craned necks in my direction. 1957K. A. Wittfogel Oriental Despotism 306 Bureaucratic chair-warmers can be annoying and harmful.
▸ Skiing. A chairlift; (also) a seat on a chairlift. Freq. with modifying word or phrase indicating the number of passengers each seat is capable of carrying (cf. quad adj.1 2).
1949N.Y. Times 20 Dec. 41/7 The world's largest ski lift, the 8,200 foot double chair project at..Squaw Valley. 1951Chicago Sunday Tribune 9 Dec. vi. 19/1 It [sc. the chairlift] has been rebuilt with double chairs replacing the single seaters. 1989St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 12 Nov. (Travel section) 1 e, Sun Valley now is served by 15 modern chairs, including a trio of high-speed, detachable quads (four-person chairs). 1992Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 Dec. d1/4 The hills today are serviced by double and triple chairs and a T-bar lift. 2005A. R. Smith Ski Instructors Confidential 100 Their chair was approaching the unloading point.
▪ II. † chair, n.2 Obs. or arch.
[Variant of char, assimilated in spelling to prec.; perhaps associated with it also in meaning.]
A chariot or car.
c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 39 Emelye..Faire in a chare [Shirley MS. chaier] of golde he with him lad. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ii. (1520) 14/1 Helyas..was lyfted up into paradye..in a chayre. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 617 Wt great apparayll of chayris and other costious ordenaunce for to conueye the forenamed lady Margarete into Englande. 1559T. Bryce in Farr S.P. Eliz. (1845) I. 164 When worthy Web and George Roper In Elyes' chayre to heauen were sent. c1630Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 6 Phœbus in his chair, Ensaffroning sea and air. 1697Dryden Virg. x. 807 Niphæus, whom four coursers drew..They threw their master headlong from the chair. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles v. xiv, Like a prophet's fiery chair..travelling the realms of air.
▪ III. chair, v.|tʃɛə(r)|
[f. chair n.1]
1. a. trans. To place or seat in a chair; esp. to install in a chair of authority.
1552,1796[see chaired ppl. a.]. 1761Brit. Mag. II. 179 Chairing your speaker for the commons, when he is chosen by the house. 1850P. Crook War of Hats 52 A Guy Fawkes figure toiletted and chaired. 1877Tennyson Harold i. ii. (D.) And thou Chair'd in his place.
b. To place in a chair or on a seat, and carry aloft in triumph, as an honour to a favourite, a successful competitor, and formerly often to the successful candidate at a parliamentary election.
1761Brit. Mag. II. 179 The practice of chairing the candidate.. still, I find, obtains among you. 1812Examiner 19 Oct. 670/2 Were declared duly elected, and were chaired through the principal streets. 1812T. Amyot Windham I. 86 note. 1844Disraeli Coningsby v. ii. 192 The day the member was chaired. 1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. viii, Tom..was chaired round the quadrangle, on one of the hall benches borne aloft by the eleven.
c. To award the chair to (the successful competitor at the Welsh Eisteddfod). Chiefly as ppl. a. and vbl. n.
1876, etc. [see chaired ppl. a.]. 1877[see chair day s.v. chair n. 15].
d. To direct (a meeting, etc.) as chairman; to preside over. Cf. chairman v.
1921L. S. Hunter J. Hunter vii. 142 He was rarely quite happy and spontaneous at business..meetings. The prospect of having to ‘chair’ one would sometimes distract him from his work throughout the day. 1952Landfall Mar. 50 He was chairing the first meeting of the congress. 1957BBC Handbk. 167 Discussions chaired by Edgar Lustgarten.
2. To carry or wheel in a chair.
1886J. Pendleton Hist. Derbysh. 99 The bride, owing to her infirmities, had to be chaired to the altar.
3. To provide with a chair or chairs.
1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxvii, The offices were newly chaired. 1885[see chairing below].
Hence chaired ppl. a., ˈchairing vbl. n.
1552Huloet, Chayred or stalled, cathedratus. 1796Coleridge Ode Depart. Year, From the chaired gods advancing, The Spirit of the Earth made reverence meet. 1797Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. (ed. 2) II. lxii. 418 note, The chairing of a Westminster election. 1876Encycl. Brit. V. 318 The chief of song was also called a chaired bard, because he was one of the fourteen entitled to a chair at court. 1880Daily News 18 Sept. 6/4 It was resolved..that all chaired bards be appointed honorary members. 1885Leisure Hour Jan. 48/2 Seldom is a large building erected..without a visit to Wycombe..with a view to the chairing of it. 1890Pall Mall Gaz. 11 Sept. 6/3 Tudno, the chaired bard at Bangor.
▪ IV. chair
obs. form of chare. |