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Pair vs Pet - What's the difference?

pair | pet |

In transitive terms the difference between pair and pet

is that pair is to bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating while pet is to stroke or fondle (an animal).

As an adjective pet is

favourite; cherished.

As an acronym PET is

polyethylene terephthalate.

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 ----

    pet

    English

    Etymology 1

    Attested since the 1500s in the sense "indulged child" and since the 1530s in the sense "animal companion"..'>citation The verb is derived from the noun.

    Noun

    (wikipedia pet) {{ picdic , image=Pudel miniatura 342.jpg , detail1= }} (en noun)
  • An animal kept as a companion.
  • One who is excessively loyal to a superior.
  • Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a darling.
  • * Tatler
  • the love of cronies, pets , and favourites
    Synonyms
    * companion animal

    References

    Verb

    (pett)
  • To stroke or fondle (an animal).
  • (informal) To stroke or fondle (another person) amorously.
  • (informal) Of two or more people, to stroke and fondle one another amorously.
  • (dated) To treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge.
  • His daughter was petted and spoiled.
  • (archaic) To be a pet.
  • (Feltham)
    Derived terms
    * pet cemetery * pet name * pet peeve * pet project * pet shop * pet store * petting * teacher's pet

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Favourite; cherished.
  • a pet child
    a pet theory
  • * F. Harrison
  • Some young lady's pet curate.

    Etymology 2

    .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fit of petulance, a sulk, arising from the impression that one has been offended or slighted.
  • * 1891 , Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country , Nebraska 2005, p. 105:
  • There was something ludicrous, even more, unbecoming a gentleman, in leaving a friend's house in a pet , with the host's reproaches sounding in his ears, to be matched only by the bitterness of the guest's sneering retorts.

    Etymology 3

    .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Etymology 4

    .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Geordie) A term of endearment usually applied to women and children.
  • References

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----