A piece of furniture consisting of a seat, legs, back, and often arms, designed to accommodate one person.
A seat of office, authority, or dignity, such as that of a bishop.
An office or position of authority, such as a professorship.
A person who holds an office or a position of authority, such as one who presides over a meeting or administers a department of instruction at a college; a chairperson.
The position of a player in an orchestra.
Slang The electric chair.
A seat carried about on poles; a sedan chair.
Any of several devices that serve to support or secure, such as a metal block that supports and holds railroad track in position.
tr.v.
chaired, chair·ing, chairs
To install in a position of authority, especially as a presiding officer.
To preside over as chairperson: chair a meeting.
[Middle English chaiere, from Old French, from Latin cathedra; see cathedra.]
c.1225, from O.Fr. chaire, from L. cathedra "seat" (see cathedral). Figurative sense of "authority" was in M.E., of bishops and professors. Meaning "office of a professor" (1816) is extended from the seat from which a professor lectures (c.1449). Meaning "seat of a person presiding at meeting" is from 1647. Chairman is first attested 1654; chairwoman 1699; chairperson 1971.
a seat for one person, with a support for the back; "he put his coat over the back of the chair and sat down"
2.
the position of professor; "he was awarded an endowed chair in economics" [syn: professorship]
3.
the officer who presides at the meetings of an organization; "address your remarks to the chairperson" [syn: president]
4.
an instrument of execution by electrocution; resembles an ordinary seat for one person; "the murderer was sentenced to die in the chair" [syn: electric chair]
5.
a particular seat in an orchestra; "he is second chair violin"
verb
1.
act or preside as chair, as of an academic department in a university; "She chaired the department for many years"
2.
preside over; "John moderated the discussion" [syn: moderate]
Cath"e*dra\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ? seat. See Chair.] The official chair or throne of a bishop, or of any person in high authority. Ex cathedra [L., from the chair], in the exercise of one's office; with authority. The Vatican Council declares that the Pope, is infallible "when he speaks ex cathedra." --Addis & Arnold's Cath. Dict.
Chair\, n. [OE. chaiere, chaere, OF. chaiere, chaere, F. chaire pulpit, fr. L. cathedra chair, armchair, a teacher's or professor's chair, Gr. ? down + ? seat, ? to sit, akin to E. sit. See Sit, and cf. Cathedral, chaise.]1. A movable single seat with a back. 2. An official seat, as of a chief magistrate or a judge, but esp. that of a professor; hence, the office itself. The chair of a philosophical school. --Whewell. A chair of philology. --M. Arnold. 3. The presiding officer of an assembly; a chairman; as, to address the chair. 4. A vehicle for one person; either a sedan borne upon poles, or two-wheeled carriage, drawn by one horse; a gig. --Shak. Think what an equipage thou hast in air, And view with scorn two pages and a chair. --Pope. 5. An iron block used on railways to support the rails and secure them to the sleepers. Chair days, days of repose and age. To put into the chair, to elect as president, or as chairman of a meeting. --Macaulay. To take the chair, to assume the position of president, or of chairman of a meeting.
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