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Pair vs Man - What's the difference?

pair | man |

As a noun pair

is two similar or identical things taken together; often followed by of.

As a verb pair

is to group into sets of two or pair can be (obsolete) to impair.

As a pronoun man is

i.

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 ----

    man

    English

    Noun

    (men)
  • An adult male human.
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), Henry V , act 4, scene 1:
  • The king is but a man , as I am; the violet smells to him as it doth to me.
  • *
  • *:“it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
  • (lb) All human males collectively: mankind.
  • * 2011 , Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity: Staying In , p.109:
  • Unsurprisingly, if modern man is a sort of camera, modern woman is a picture.
  • A human, a person of either gender, usually an adult.
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), Henry IV, Part 2 , act 4, scene 2:
  • a man cannot make him laugh.
  • * 1611 , Bible (KJV), (w) 12.17:
  • Recompence to no man euill for euill.
  • * (Joseph Addison), Monaco, Genoa, &c. , p.9:
  • A man would expect, in so very ancient a town of Italy, to find some considerable antiquities; but all they have to show of this nature is an old Rostrum of a Roman ship, that stands over the door of their arsenal.
  • * 1991' edition (original: '''1953 ), Darell Huff, ''[//archive.org/details/HowToLieWithStatistics How to Lie with Statistics] , pp.19–20:
  • Similarly, the next time you learn from your reading that the average man (you hear a good deal about him these days, most of it faintly improbable) brushes his teeth 1.02 times a day—a figure I have just made up, but it may be as good as anyone else's – ask yourself a question. How can anyone have found out such a thing? Is a woman who has read in countless advertisements that non-brushers are social offenders going to confess to a stranger that she does not brush her teeth regularly?
  • (lb) All humans collectively: mankind, humankind, humanity.
  • * 1647 , Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 10:
  • How did God create man ?
    God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.
  • *
  • A member of the genus Homo'', especially of the species ''Homo sapiens .
  • * 1990 , The Almanac of Science and Technology (ISBN 0151050503), p.68:
  • The evidence suggests that close relatives of early man , in lineages that later became extinct, also were able to use tools.
  • (lb) A sentient being, whether human or supernatural.
  • * A Gest of Robyn Hode'', in the ''Child Ballads :
  • For God is holde a ryghtwys man .
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), Much Ado about Nothing , act 3, scene 5:
  • God's a good man .
  • * 1609 , (Ben Jonson), :
  • Expect: But was the devil a proper man , gossip?
    As fine a gentleman of his inches as ever I saw trusted to the stage, or any where else.
  • An adult male who has, to an eminent degree, qualities considered masculine, such as strength, integrity, and devotion to family; a mensch.
  • * 1883 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), :
  • He’s more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house
  • * 2011 , Timothy Shephard, Can We Help Us?: Growing Up Bi-Racial in America (ISBN 1456754610), p.181:
  • I had the opportunity to marry one of them but wasn't mature enough to be a man and marry her and be close to the.
  • Manliness; the quality or state of being manly.
  • * 1598 , (Ben Jonson), (Every Man in His Humour)
  • Methought he bare himself in such a fashion, / So full of man , and sweetness in his carriage, /
  • A husband.
  • * Book of Common Prayer :
  • I pronounce that they are man and wife.
  • * 1715 , (Joseph Addison), The Freeholder :
  • In the next place, every wife ought to answer for her man .
  • A lover; a boyfriend.
  • A male enthusiast or devotee; a male who is very fond of or devoted to a specified kind of thing.
  • A person, usually male, who has duties or skills associated with a specified thing.
  • A person, usually male, who can fulfill one's requirements with regard to a specified matter.
  • * 2007 , Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night (ISBN 0778324567), p.553:
  • *:"She's the man for the job."
  • * 2008 , Soccer Dad: A Father, a Son, and a Magic Season (ISBN 160239329X), p.148:
  • Joanie volunteered, of course — if any dirty job is on offer requiring running, she's your man
  • * 2012 , The Island Caper: A Jake Lafferty Action Novel (ISBN 1622951999), p.34:
  • He also owns the only backhoe tractor on Elbow Cay, so whenever anyone needs a cistern dug, he's their man .
  • A male who belongs to a particular group: an employee, a student or alumnus, a representative, etc.
  • * 1909 , Harper's Weekly , Vol.53, p.iii:
  • When President Roosevelt goes walking in the country about Washington he is always accompanied by two Secret Service men .
  • * 1913 , Robert Herrick, One Woman's Life , p.46:
  • *:"And they're very good people, I assure you — he's a Harvard man ." It was the first time Milly had met on intimate terms a graduate of a large university.
  • An adult male servant. (lb) A vassal. A subject.
  • (old proverb)
  • * William Blackstone:
  • The vassal, or tenant, kneeling, ungirt, uncovered, and holding up his hands between those of his lord, professed that he did become his man from that day forth, of life, limb, and earthly honour.
  • *
  • A piece or token used in board games such as chess.
  • * 1883 , Henry Richter, Chess Simplified! , p.4:
  • The white men' are always put on that side of the board which commences by row I, and the black ' men are placed opposite.
  • (non-gloss definition, Used to refer to oneself or one's group): I, we; (construed in the third person).
  • * 2011 , (Top Boy) :
  • *:Sully: If it weren’t for that snake ... Man wouldn’t even be in this mess right now.
  • Usage notes

    * The most common modern sense of the word is “an adult male human”, not “a generic human” or “humankind”, which explains the awkwardness of the following sentence: *: Man, like other mammals, breastfeeds his young. Nonsexist Language Guideline , the University of New Hampshire. * Nonsexist language advocates recommend the use of human'', ''human being'', ''humankind'' or ''person'', depending on context, instead of ''man .

    Synonyms

    * (adult male human) omi (Polari); see also * See also * See also

    See also

    * the man * boy; male * woman * human

    Derived terms

    * airman * anchor man * bad man * barman * best man * black man * caveman * common man * company man * con man * dead man * dirty old man * Earthman * family man * fireman * foreman * government man * headman * hitman * kept man * lady's man * -man * man among men * manface * manful * manhood * mankind * manly * man of God * man of science * man of the cloth * man of the people * man of the world * man of war * man on * manpower * man's man * mantrap/man-trap/man trap * Marlboro Man * mountain man * old man * overman * policeman * underman * pan man * renaissance man * seaman * see a man about a dog * straight man * straw man * stunt man * strong man * the man * waterman * white man * woman * yes-man

    Verb

    (mann)
  • To supply (something) with staff or crew (of either sex).
  • The shipped was manned with a small crew.
  • To take up position in order to operate (something).
  • Man the machine guns!
  • * 1876 , Julian Hawthorne, Saxon Studies :
  • he manned himself heroically
  • To wait on, attend to or escort.
  • To accustom (a hawk or other bird) to the presence of men.
  • Derived terms

    * overman (verb)

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • Man , that was a great catch!

    References

    Statistics

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