n.
- a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs.
- the person in charge of a meeting or an organization (used as a neutral alternative to chairman or chairwoman).
▸the role of a chairperson.
- a professorship.
-
(the chair)
US short for electric chair.
- chiefly Brit. a metal socket holding a rail in place on a railway sleeper.
v.
- act as chairperson of.
- Brit. carry (someone) aloft in a chair or in a sitting position to celebrate a victory.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. chaiere (mod. chaire ‘bishop's throne’, chaise ‘chair’), from L. cathedra ‘seat’, from Gk kathedra; cf. cathedral.