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Pair vs Join - What's the difference?

pair | join | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between pair and join

is that pair is two similar or identical things taken together; often followed by of while join is an intersection of piping or wiring; an interconnect.

As verbs the difference between pair and join

is that pair is to group into sets of two while join is to combine more than one item into one; to put together.

pair

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) paire, from (etyl) .

Noun

(en-noun)
  • Two similar or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.}}
  • Two people in a relationship, partnership (especially sexual) or friendship.
  • Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plurale tantum)
  • A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.
  • (cards) A poker hand that contains of two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
  • (cricket) A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match
  • (baseball, informal) A double play, two outs recorded in one play
  • (baseball, informal) A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams
  • (slang) A pair of breasts
  • (Australia, politics) The exclusion of one member of a parliamentary party from a vote, if a member of the other party is absent for important personal reasons.
  • Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time.
  • There were two pairs on the final vote.
  • (archaic) A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.
  • * Charles Dickens
  • plunging myself into poverty and shabbiness and love in one room up three pair of stairs
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Two crowns in my pocket, two pair of cards.
  • (kinematics) In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion; named in accordance with the motion it permits, as in turning pair'', ''sliding pair'', ''twisting pair .
  • Synonyms
    * two objects in a group: duo, dyad, couple, brace, twosome, duplet * (pair of breasts) See also
    Derived terms
    * on a pair * grow a pair * in pairs * king pair * pair-horse * pair-oar(ed) * pair production * pair skating * royal pair * strap on a pair

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To group into sets of two.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Glossy jet is paired with shining white.
    The wedding guests were paired boy/girl and groom's party/bride's party.
  • To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
  • (politics, slang) To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
  • To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.
  • * Rowe
  • My heart was made to fit and pair with thine.
    (Webster 1913)
  • (computing) to form wireless connection between to devices
  • *{{quote-web
  • , date = yyyy-mm-dd , author =Microsoft , title = How-to: Keyboards , site = http://www.microsoft.com , url = http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/help/support/how-to/keyboard/bluetooth , accessdate = 2015-02-21 }}
    If your computer has a built-in, non-Microsoft transceiver, you can pair the device directly to the computer by using your computer’s Bluetooth software configuration program but without using the Microsoft Bluetooth transceiver.
    Derived terms
    * pairing * pair off * pair up

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To impair.
  • (Spenser)

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    join

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To combine more than one item into one; to put together.
  • To come together; to meet.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Nature and fortune joined to make thee great.
  • To come into the company of.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
  • To become a member of.
  • * , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined . One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.}}
  • (computing, databases, transitive) To produce an intersection of data in two or more database tables.
  • To unite in marriage.
  • * (John Wycliffe) (1320-1384)
  • he that joineth his virgin in matrimony
  • * Bible, (w) xix. 6
  • What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
  • (obsolete, rare) To enjoin upon; to command.
  • * (William Tyndale) (1494-1536)
  • They join them penance, as they call it.
  • To accept, or engage in, as a contest.
  • (Milton)

    Synonyms

    * (to combine more than one item into one) bewed, connect, fay, unite

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An intersection of piping or wiring; an interconnect.
  • (computing, databases) An intersection of data in two or more database tables.
  • (algebra) The lowest upper bound, an operation between pairs of elements in a lattice, denoted by the symbol .
  • Antonyms

    * (lowest upper bound) meet

    Derived terms

    * antijoin * autojoin * cross join * equijoin * explicit join * implicit join * inner join * left join * natural join * outer join * right join * semijoin * theta join