Chair

  

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Chair

Definition: Chair

Chair

Noun

1. A seat for one person, with a support for the back.

2. The position of professor.

3. The officer who presides at the meetings of an organization.

4. An instrument of execution by electrocution; resembles a chair.

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".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "chair" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

 

Specialty Definition: Chair

DomainDefinition

Metallurgy

A metal seating, attached to a railway sleeper, in which a bull-headed railway rail rests. Source: European Union. (references)

19th Century Satire

Four-legged aid to the injured. Source: Foolish Dictionary, 1904.

Dream Interpretation

To see a chair in your dream, denotes failure to meet some obligation. If you are not careful you will also vacate your most profitable places.
To see a friend sitting on a chair and remaining motionless, signifies news of his death or illness. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted ....

General

Person selected to preside over a session or lead a committee. Source: European Union. (references)

Law

A metaphorical designation of the current presiding officer. (references)

Literature

Chair (The ). The office of chief magistrate in a corporate town.
Below the chair. An alderman who has not yet served the mayoralty.
Passed the chair. One who has served the chief office of the corporation.
The word is also applied to the office of a professor, etc., as "The chair of poetry, in Oxford, is now vacant." The word is furthermore applied to the president of a committee or public meeting. Hence-
To take the chair. To become the chairman or president of a public meeting. The chairman is placed in a chair at the head of the table, or in some conspicuous place like the Speaker of the House of Commons, and his decision is absolutely final in all points of doubt. Usually the persons present nominate and elect their own chairman; but in some cases there is an ex officio chairman.
Chair When members of the House of Commons and other debaters call out "Chair," they mean that the chairman is not properly supported, and his words not obeyed as they ought to be. Another form of the same expression is, "Pray support the chair."
Groaning chair. The chair in which a woman is confined or sits afterwards to receive congratulations. Similarly "groaning cake" and "groaning cheese" are the cake and cheese which used to be provided in "Goose month."
"For a nurse, the child to dandle,
Sugar, soap, spiced pots, and candle
A groaning chair, and eke a cradle"
Poor Robin's Almanack, 1676. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.

Mining

A. Movable support for a cage, arranged to hold it at the landing when desired. See also:catch; dog; rests b. Projection that can be set into a guide so that the skip or cage descending in the mine shaft is brought to rest at the correct level c. A cast-iron support bolted to a timber or concrete railway sleeper usedto hold a bullhead rail in position. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Chair

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A chair is a piece of furniture consisting of a seat, legs, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person. Without back and arm rests it is called a stool. A chair for more persons is a couch, sofa, settee, loveseat or bench. A chair mounted in a vehicle or in a theatre is simply called a seat.

The back often does not extend all the way to the seat to allow for ventilation. Likewise, the back and sometimes the seat are made of porous materials or have holes drilled in them for decoration and ventilation.

The back may extend above the height of the head. There may be separate headrests. Headrests for seats in vehicles are important for preventing whiplash injuries to the neck when the vehicle is involved in a rear-end collision.

Types of chairs

An Aeron chair is an ergnomic trademarked chair.

A barber's chair swivels and has easily adjusted heights to make it easy for the barber. It may also recline for washing hair. It typically has footrests as the height may be adjusted and raise the patron's feet off the floor. For children's barbershops, the chairs may come in fanciful shapes such as horses and cars to distract the children while their hair is cut.

A Barcelona chair class="external">[1 is a proprietary chair characterized by leather upholstery, backward sloping seat, reclined back and no armrests.

A barrel chair [1] is a chair with a high round back like half a barrel. It is large and upholstered.

Beanbag chairs are fabric bags of beans in the shape of a chair. They are usually filled with foam chips today and made of colourful fabric for children.

A butterfly chair class="external">[1 is composed of a single piece of fabric suspended from a light metal frame.

A captain's chair was originally a low back wooden chair [1]. Today it is often applied to adjustable individual seats in a car with arm rests.

A club chair [1] is a plush easy chair with a low back. The heavy sides form armrests that are usually as high as the back.

A Cogswell chair [1] was a brand of upholstered easy chairs. It has a sloping back and curved and ornamental front legs. The armrests are open underneath.

A deck chair class="external">[1 is a folding chair with an extended seat that is meant to be used as a leg rest. There are usually armrests. It is meant for lounging.

Dentist chairs are deeply reclining chairs to allow the dentist easy access to the patients mouth. The reclining position adjusts as well as the overall height of the chair. Associated with the chair are usually a variety of dental equipment, often including a small tap and sink for the patient to rinse his or her mouth.

A director's chair class="external">[1 is a folding chair used by movie directors. It folds side-to-side and can fold that way because the seat and back are usually fabric, typically canvas. The back is usually low and there are usually armrests.

An easy chair [1] is any large comfortable chair. It is typically upholstered.

The Eames chair [1] is a trademark for molded plywood chairs, contoured to fit the shape of a person.

An electric chair is a device for capital punishment by electrocution.

A fighting chair[1] is a chair on a boat used by anglers to catch large saltwater fish. The chair typically swivels and has a harness to keep the angler strapped in should the fish tug hard on the line.

Folding chairs collapse the back to the seat. Some further collapse the feet up to the back. This is useful for mobility and storage. Folding chairs are typically designed to stack on top of each other when folded and may come with special trolleys to move stacks of folded chairs. Stacking chairs simply stack for storage and do not collapse.

A glider offers the same motions as a rocking chair but without the dangers. A frame rests on the floor and the chair is supported by swing arms within the frame so that moving parts are less accessible.

A high chair is a children's chair to raise them to the height of adults for feeding. They typically come with a detachable tray so that the child can sit apart from the main table. Booster chairs raise the height of children on regular chairs so they can eat a the main dining table. Some high chairs are clamped directly to the table and thus is more portable.

Plastic inflatable chairs are usually children's toys. Ikea briefly marketed them as serious furniture upholstered in fabric. Some are designed for use as floating lounge chairs in swimming pools.

Kneeling chairs or knee-sit chairs [1] are chairs that are meant to support someone kneeling. This is puportedly better for the back than sitting all day. The main seat is sloped forward at the about 30 degrees so that the person would normally slide off; but there is a knee rest to keep the person in place.

A lawn chair is usually a light folding chair for outdoor use on soft surfaces. The left and right legs are joined along the ground into a single foot to make a broader contact area with the ground. Individual feet would otherwise dig into soft grass.

A Morris chair [1] was a proprietary easy chair with adjustable back, cushions and armrests.

An office chair typically swivels and is on castor wheels. It may be very plushly upholstered and in leather and thus characterized as an executive chair or come with a low back and characterized as a steno chair. Office chairs often have a number of ergonomic adjustments: seat height, armrest height and width, back reclining tension.

A pushchair [1] is a British English term for a stroller.

A recliner [1] is a chair whose back reclines. They are typically armchairs and may come with a footrest that unfolds from the chair when the back is reclined.

A rocking chair has the legs mounted on a curved rocker so that the chair can sway back and forth. Rocking chairs can be quite dangerous for small children and pets as the rocker can crush feet as it rotates. Sometimes the rocking chair is on springs to avoid this danger.

A patio chair is any outdoor chair meant for use on a hard surface. (Contrast with lawn chairs.) They are designed so as to not collect water and dry quickly after rain.

A potty chair [1] often abbreviated simply as "potty" is a training toilet for children.

Revolving chair is an older term for swivel chair.

A sedan chair is a chair on carrying poles. The occupant is carried by two or more porters. The chair may be enclosed.

A side chair [1] is a chair with a straight back and without armrests. It is usually matched with a dining table.

A sit-stand chair [1] allows the person to lean against this device and be partially supported. It is better than standing all day.

A steno chair is a simple office chair meant for secretarial staff usage.

Swivel chairs swivel about a vertical axis. They are often on castors as well.

A visitors chair is a chair used for a visitor to someone's office. It is usually less comfortable and ornate than the main office chair.

Wheelchairs are chairs on wheels for those who cannot walk.

A wicker chair is a chair made of wicker and is thus ventilated and useful in humid conditions. Likewise a cane chair.

A Windsor chair class="external">[1 is a classic wooden chair characterized by a high-spoked back, outward-sloped legs. The seat is saddled for the contours of the human buttocks.

A wing chair[1] is an upholstered easy chair with large "wings" for armrests.

Design and ergonomics

Chair design considers intended usage, ergonomics (how comfortable is it for the occupant), as well as non-ergonomic functional requirements such as size, stackability, foldability, weight, durability, stain resistance and artistic design. Intended usage determines the desired seating position. "Task chairs", or any chair intended for people to work at a desk or table, including dining chairs, can only recline very slightly; otherwise the occupant is too far away from the desk or table. Dental chairs are necessarily reclined. Easy chairs for watching television or movies are somewhere in between depending on the height of the screen.

Ergonomic designs distributes the weight of the occupant to various parts of the body. A seat that is higher results in dangling feet and increased pressure on the underside of the knees ("popliteal fold"). It may also result in no weight on the feet which means more weight elsewhere. A lower seat may shift too much weight to the "seat bones" ("ischial tuberosities").

A reclining seat and back will shift weight to the occupant's back. This may be more comfortable for some in reducing weight on the seat area, but may be problematic for others who have bad backs. In general, if the occupant is suppose to sit for a long time, weight needs to be taken off the seat area and thus "easy" chairs intended for long periods of sitting are generally at least slightly reclined. However, reclining may not be suitable for chairs intended for work or eating a table.

The back of the chair will support some of the weight of the occupant, reducing the weight on other parts of the body. In general, backrests come in three heights: Lower back backrests support only the lumbar region. Shoulder height backrests support the entire back and shoulders. Headrests support the head as well and are important in vehicles for preventing "whiplash" neck injuries in rear-end collisions where the head is jerked back suddenly. Reclining chairs typically have at least shoulder height backrests to shift weight to the shoulders instead of just the lower back.

Armrests will also support part of the body weight through the arms. They further have the function of making entry and exit from the chair easier. Armrests should support the forearm and not the sensitive elbow area. Hence in some chair designs, the armrest is not continuous to the chair back, but is missing in the elbow area.

A kneeling chair adds an additional body part, the knees, to support the weight of the body. A sit-stand chair distributes most of the weight of the occupant to the feet.

Padding will not shift the weight to different parts of the body (unless the chair is so soft that the shape is altered). However, padding does distribute the weight by increasing the area of contact between the chair and the body. A hard wood chair feels hard because the contact point between the occupant and the chair is small. The same body weight over a smaller area means greater pressure on that area. Spreading the area reduces the pressure at any given point. In lieu of padding, flexible materials, such as wicker, may be used instead with similar effects of distributing the weight. Since most of the body weight is supported in the back of the seat, padding there should be firmer than the front of the seat which only has the weight of the legs to support. Chairs that have padding that is the same density front and back will feel soft in the back area and hard to the underside of the knees.

There may be cases where padding is not desirable. For example, in hot climates, padding with fabric or plastic covers is often uncomfortable against the skin. Where padding is not desirable, contouring may be used instead. A contoured seat pan attempts to distribute weight without padding. By matching the shape of the occupant's buttocks, weight is distributed and pressure at any given point is reduced.

Actual chair dimensions are determined by measurements of the human body or anthropometric measurements. Individuals may be measured for a custom chair. Anthropometric statistics may be gathered for mass produced chairs. The two most relevant anthropometric measurement for chair design is the popliteal height and buttock popliteal length.

For someone seated, the popliteal height is the distance from the underside of the foot to the underside of the thigh at the knees. It is sometimes called the "stool height". (The term "sitting height" is reserved for the height to the top of the head.) For American men, the median popliteal height is 16.3 inches and for American women it is 15.0 inches[1]. The popliteal height, after adjusting for heels, clothing and other issues is used to determine the height of the chair seat. Mass produced chairs are typically 17 inches high.

For someone seated, the buttock popliteal length is the horizontal distance from the back most part of the buttocks to the back of the lower leg. This anthropometric measurement is used to determine the seat depth. Mass produced chairs are typically 38-43 cm deep.

Additional anthropometric measurements may be relevant to designing a chair. Hip breadth is used for chair width and armrest width. Elbow rest height is used to determine the height of the armrests. The buttock-knee length is used to determine "leg room" between rows of chairs. "Seat pitch" is the distance between rows of seats. In some airplanes and stadiums the seat pitch is so small that there is sometimes there is no leg room for the average person.

For adjustable chairs, the aforementioned principles are applied in adjusting the chair to the individual occupant.

Standards and specifications

Design considerations for chairs have been codified into standards. ISO 9241-5:1988[1], "Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) -- Part 5: Workstation layout and postural requirements " is the most common one for modern chair design.

There are multiple specific standards for different types of chairs. Dental chairs are specified by ISO 6875. Bean bag chairs are specified by ANSI standard ASTM F1912-98[1]. ISO 7174 specifies stability of rocking and tilting chairs. ASTM F1858-98 specifies lawn chairs. ASTM E1822-02b defines the combustibility of chairs when they are stacked.

The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association (BIFMA) defines BIFMA X5.1 for testing of commercial-grade chairs. It specifies things like[1]:

The specification further defines heavier "proof" loads that chairs must withstand. Under these higher loads, the chair may be damaged, but it must not fail catastrophically.

Large institutions that make bulk purchases will reference these standards within their own even more detailed criteria for purchase [1]. Governments will often issue standards for purchases by government agencies (e.g. Cananda's Canadian General Standards Board CAN/CGSB 44.15M [1] on "Straight Stacking Chair, Steel").

Accessories

In place of a built-in footrest, some chairs come with a matching ottoman. An ottoman is a short stool to be used as a footrest but can sometimes be used as a stool. If matched to a glider, the ottoman may be mounted on swing arms so that the ottoman rocks back and forth with the main glider.

A chair cover is a temporary fabric cover for a side chair. They are typically rented for formal events such as wedding receptions to increase the attractiveness of the chairs and decor. The chair covers may come with decorative chair ties, a ribbon to be tied as a bow behind the chair. Covers for sofas and couches are also available for home with small children and pets. A brief fad in the late 20th century were custom clear plastic covers for expensive sofas to protect them.

Chair pads are cushions for chairs. Some are decorative. In cars, they may be used to increase the height of the driver. Orthopedic backrests provide support for the back. Obus Forme is a major brand in this category and helped develop this market niche. Car seats sometimes have built-in and adjustable lumbar supports.

Remote control bags can be draped over the arm of easy chairs or sofas and used to hold remote controls. They are counter-weighted so as to not slide off the arms under the weight of the remote control.

History of the Chair

The chair is of extreme antiquity, although for many centuries and indeed for thousands of years it was an article of state and dignity rather than an article of ordinary use. “The chair” is still extensively used as the emblem of authority in the House of Commons and in public meetings. It was not, in fact, until the 16th century that it became common anywhere. The chest, the bench and the stool were until then the ordinary seats of everyday life, and the number of chairs which have survived from an earlier date is exceedingly limited; most of such examples are of ecclesiastical or seigneurial origin. Our knowledge of the chairs of remote antiquity is derived almost entirely from monuments, sculpture and paintings. A few actual examples exist in the British Museum, in the Egyptian museum at Cairo, and elsewhere.

Egyptian chairs

In ancient Egypt they appear to have been of great richness and splendour. Fashioned of ebony and- ivory, or of carved and gilded wood, they were covered with costly materials and supported upon representations of the legs of beasts or the figures of captives. An arm-chair in fine preservation found in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings is astonishingly similar, even in small details, to that "Empire" style which followed Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. The earliest monuments of Nineveh represent a chair without a back but with tastefully carved legs ending in lions’ claws or bulls’ hoofs. Others are supported by figures in the nature of caryatides or by animals.

Greek and Roman chairs

The earliest known form of Greek chair, going back to five or six centuries before Christ, had a back but stood straight up, front and back. On the frieze of the Parthenon Zeus occupies a square seat with a bar-back and thick turned legs; it is ornamented with winged sphinxes and the feet of beasts. The characteristic Roman chairs were of marble, also adorned with sphinxes. The curule chair was originally very similar in form to the modern folding chair, but eventually received a good deal of ornament. The most famous of the very few chairs which have come down from a remote antiquity is the reputed chair of St Peter in St Peter’s at Rome. The wooden portions are much decayed, but it would appear to be Byzantine work of the 6th century, and to be really an ancient sedia gestatoria. It has ivory carvings representing the labours of Hercules. A few pieces of an earlier oaken chair have been let in; the existing one, Gregorovius says, is of acacia wood. The legend that this was the curdle chair of the senator Pudens is necessarily apocryphal. It is not, as is popularly supposed, enclosed in Bernini’s bronze chair, but is kept under triple lock and exhibited only once in a century. Byzantium, like Greece and Rome, affected the curule form of chair, and in addition to lions’ heads and winged figures of Victory and dolphin-shaped arms used also the lyre-back which has been made familiar by the pseudo-classical revival of the end of the 18th century.

Medieval chairs

The chair of Maximian in the cathedral of Ravenna is believed to date from the middle of the 6th century. It is of marble, round, with a high back, and is carved in high relief with figures of saints and scenes from the Gospels—the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, the flight into Egypt and the baptism of Christ. The smaller spaces are filled with carvings of animals, birds, flowers and foliated ornament. Another very ancient seat is the so-called “Chair of Dagobert” in the Louvre. It is of cast bronze, sharpened with the chisel and partially gilt; it is of the curule or faldstool type and supported upon legs terminating in the heads and feet of animals. The seat, which was probably of leather, has disappeared. Its attribution depends entirely upon. the statement of Suger, abbot of St Denis in the 12th century, who added a back and arms. Its age has been much discussed, but Viollet-le-Duc dated it to early Merovingian times, and it may in any case be taken as the oldest faldstool in existence.

To the same generic type belongs the famous abbots’ chair of Glastonbury; such chairs might readily be taken to pieces when their owners travelled. The faldisterium in time acquired arms and a back, while retaining its folding shape. The most famous, as well as the most, ancient, English chair is that made at the end of the l3th century for Edward I., in which most subsequent monarchs have been crowned. It is of an architectural type and of oak, and was covered with gilded gesso which long since disappeared.

Passing from these historic examples we find the chair monopolized by the ruler, lay or ecclesiastical, to a comparatively late date. As the seat of authority it stood at the head of the lord’s table, on his dais, by the side of his bed. The seigneurial chair, commoner in France and the Netherlands than in England, is a very interesting type, approximating in many respects to the episcopal or abbatial throne or stall. It early acquired a very high back and sometimes had a canopy. Arms were invariable, and the lower part was closed in with panelled or carved front and sides—the seat, indeed, was often hinged and sometimes closed with a key.

That we are still said to sit “in” an arm-chair and “on" other kinds of chairs is a reminiscence of the time when the lord or seigneur sat “in his chair.” These throne-like seats were always architectural in character, and as Gothic feeling waned took the distinctive characteristics of Renaissance work.

Renaissance

It was owing in great measure to the Renaissance that the chair ceased to be an privilege of state, and became the customary companion of whomsoever could afford to buy it. Once the idea of privilege faded the chair speedily came into general use. We find almost at once began to reflect the fashions of the hour. No piece of furniture has ever been so close an index to sumptuary changes. It has varied in size, shape and sturdiness with the fashion not only of women’s dress but of men’s also. Thus the chair which was not, even with its arms purposely suppressed, too ample during the several reigns of some form or other of hoops and farthingale, became monstrous when these protuberances disappeared. Again, the costly laced coats of the dandy of the 18th and early 19th centuries were so threatened by the ordinary form of seat that a “conversation chair” was devised, which enabled the buck and the ruffler to sit with his face to the back, his valuable tails hanging unimpeded over the front. The early chair almost invariably had arms, and it was not until towards the close of the 16th century that the smaller form grew common.

The majority of the chairs of all countries until the middle of the 17th century were of oak without upholstery, and when it became customary to cushion them, leather was sometimes employed; subsequently velvet and silk were extensively used, and at a later period cheaper and often more durable materials. Leather was not infrequently used even for the costly and elaborate chairs of the faldstool form—occasionally sheathed in thin plates of silver—which Venice sent all over Europe. To this day, indeed, leather is one of the most frequently employed materials for chair covering. The outstanding characteristic of most chairs until the middle of the 17th century was massiveness and solidity. Being usually made of oak, they were of considerable weight, and it was not until the introduction of the handsome Louis XIII chairs with cane backs and seats that either weight or solidity was reduced.

English chairs

Although English furniture derives so extensively from foreign and especially French and Italian models, the earlier forms of English chairs owed but little to exotic influences. This was especially the case down to the end of the Tudor period, after which France began to set her mark upon the British chair. The squat variety, with heavy and sombre back, carved like a piece of panelling, gave place to a taller, more slender, and more elegant form, in which the framework only was carved, and attempts were made at ornament in new directions. The stretcher especially offered opportunities which were not lost upon the cabinet-makers of the Restoration. From a mere uncompromising cross-bar intended to strengthen the construction it blossomed, almost suddenly, into an elaborate scroll-work or an exceedingly graceful semicircular ornament connecting all four legs, with a vase-shaped knob in the centre. The arms and legs of chairs of this period were scrolled, the splats of the back often showing a rich arrangement of spirals and scrolls. This most decorative of all types appears to have been popularized in England by the cavaliers who had been in exile with Charles II. and had become familiar with it in the north-western parts of the European continent. During he reign of William and Mary these charming forms degenerated into something much stiffer and more rectangular, with a solid, more or less fiddle-shaped splat and a cabriole leg with pad feet. The more ornamental examples had cane seats and ill-proportioned cane backs. From these forms was gradually developed the Chippendale chair, with its elaborately interlaced back, its graceful arms and square or cabriole legs, the latter terminating in the claw and ball or the pad foot. Hepplewhite, Sheraton and Adam all aimed at lightening the chair, which, even in the master hands of Chippendale, remained comparatively heavy. The endeavour succeeded, and the modern chair is everywhere comparatively slight. Chippendale and Hépplewhite between them determined what appears to be the final form Of the chair, for since their time practically no new type has lasted, and in its main characteristics the chair of the 20th century is the direct derivative of that of the later 18th century.

18th century chairs

The 18th century was, indeed, the golden age of the chair, especially in France and England, between which there was considerable give and take of ideas. Even Diderot could not refrain from writing of them in his Encyclopfihie. The typical Louis Seize chair, oval-backed and ample of seat, with descending arms and round-reeded legs, covered in Beauvais or some such gay tapestry woven with Boucher or Watteau-like scenes, is a very gracious object, in which the period reached its high-water mark. The Empire brought in squat and squabby shapes, comfortable enough no doubt, but entirely destitute of inspiration. English Empire chairs were often heavier and more sombre than those of French design. Thenceforward the chair in all countries ceased to attract the artist. The art nouveau school has occasionally produced something of not unpleasing simplicity; but more often its efforts have been frankly ugly or even grotesque. There have been practically no novelties, with the exception perhaps of the basket-chair and such like, which have been made possible by modern. command over material. So much, indeed, is the present indebted to the past in this matter that even the revolving chair, now so familiar in offices, has a pedigree of something like four centuries.

Phrases relating to chairs

If a movie or a story keeps you on the edge of your chair, the story is very exciting and you want to know what happens next.

If you nearly fall off your chair, you are very surprised.

References

A seat is also a seat of office, authority, or dignity, such as the chairperson of a professorship at a college or university, or the individual that presides over business proceedings.

The seating position of a particular musician in an orchestra may also be referred to as a chair.

As slang, "The Chair" refers to the electric chair.

Also referred to as chairs are the blocks that supports and hold railroad track in position, and similar devices.

See also definition at http://wiktionary.org/wiki/chair

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Chair."

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Chairman

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A chairman is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization or committee. It is his or her responsibility to outline the agenda of the group, and ensure that everyone operates in an efficient manner. He or she may also be entrusted with various other executive powers. In order to avoid sexist assumptions, the position is nowadays more often called chairperson or simply the chair. Alternatively, the title of "chairwoman" may be used if the incumbent is female.

In China the title of "Chairman" is often used interchangably with that of president. (ex: Chairman Mao)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Chairman."

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Synonyms: Chair

Synonyms: chairperson (n), chairwoman (n), death chair (n), electric chair (n), hot seat (n), president (n), professorship (n), chairman (v), lead (v), moderate (v). (additional references)
Synonyms by domain: chairing (public administration, politics & international affaires), shopped (industry, metallurgy).

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Synonyms within Context: Chair

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Celebration

Inaugurate, install, chair.

Direction

Superintend, supervise; overlook, control, keep in order, look after, see to, legislate for; administer, ministrate; matronize; have the care of, have the charge of; be in charge of, have charge of, take the direction; boss, boss one around; pull the strings, pull the wires; rule; (command); have the direction, hold office, hold the portfolio; preside, preside at the board; take the chair, occupy the chair, be in the chair; pull the stroke oar.

Premiership, senatorship; director; chair, portfolio.

Director

Head, head man, head center, boss; principal, president, speaker; chair, chairman, chairwoman, chairperson; captain; (master); superior; mayor; (civil authority); vice president, prime minister, premier, vizier, grand vizier, eparch.

Repose

Lie down; recline, recline on a bed of down, recline on an easy chair; go to rest, go to bed, go to sleep.

Scepter

Throne, chair, musnud, divan, dais, woolsack.

School

Professorship, lectureship, readership, fellowship, tutorship; chair.

Scourge

Scaffold; block, ax, guillotine; stake; cross; gallows, gibbet, tree, drop, noose, rope, halter, bowstring; death chair, electric chair; gas chamber; lethal injection; firing squad; mecate.

Support

Seat, throne, dais; divan, musnud; chair, bench, form, stool, sofa, settee, stall; arm chair, easy chair, elbow chair, rocking chair; couch, fauteuil, woolsack, ottoman, settle, squab, bench; aparejo, faldstool, horn; long chair, long sleeve chair, morris chair; lamba chauki, lamba kursi; saddle, pannel, pillion; side saddle, pack saddle; pommel.

Vehicle

Truck, tram; cariole, carriole; limber, tumbrel, pontoon; barrow; wheel barrow, hand barrow; perambulator; Bath chair, wheel chair, sedan chair; chaise; palankeen, palanquin; litter, brancard, crate, hurdle, stretcher, ambulance; black Maria; conestoga wagon, conestoga wain; jinrikisha, ricksha, brett, dearborn, dump cart, hack, hackery, jigger, kittereen, mailstate, manomotor, rig, rockaway, prairie schooner, shay, sloven, team, tonga, wheel; hobbyhorse, go-cart; cycle; bicycle, bike, two-wheeler; tricycle, velocipede, quadricycle.

World

Constellation, zodiac, signs of the zodiac, Charles's wain, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Great Bear, Southern Cross, Orion's belt, Cassiopea's chair, Pleiades.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Chair

English words defined with "chair": barber chair, Bath chair, beach chaircamp chair, Cassiopeia's Chairdeath chair, deck chairEames chair, electric chairfeeding chair, fighting chair, folding chairgarden chairJoint chairladder-back chair, lawn chairrocking chairside chair, straight chair, swivel chairtablet-armed chairWindsor chair, wing chair. (references)
Specialty definitions using "chair": Bárány chairCANNON, Cathedræ Molles, CATHEDRAL, CHAIR INSPECTOR AND LEVELER, Chair Maker, Chair Rail, chair-post-machine operator, CHUCKING-AND-BORING-MACHINE OPERATOR, CLAMP MACHINE, CLEANER, WINDOW, club chair, Coronation Chair, Curule ChairDeputy, DIALYSIS TECHNICIAN, Disney Professor, Downing Professor, Dying SayingsEDGE ROLLERFURNITURE ASSEMBLERGroaning Chairhand-tier, Hawk nor Buzzard, hemodialysis technicia, highest elected official, HYDRAULIC-CHAIR ASSEMBLERInternet Engineering Steering GroupJacob's StoneKing's ChairMarino Faliero, Merlin Chair, Moving the Previous QuestionNystagmus, Physiologicoccasional furniturePAD CUTTER, PADDING GLUER, Paridel, Parliamentary Inquiry, parts assembler, PEBCAK, Pirie's Chair, Pro Forma Amendmentright, Rocking-chairSCOOPING-MACHINE TENDER, scraper tender, seat scooper, machine, SKI PATROLLER, ski-lift operator, SKI-TOW OPERATOR, SLIP-SEAT COVERER, SNOWMAKER, Speaker Pro Tempore, spring setter, spring tacker, spring tier, spring upholsterer, St. Michael's Chair, Stephen Kleene, SUPERVISOR, SPRING-UPtablet chair, tablet-arm chair, Tim Berners-Lee, track boltWEBBING TACKER, WOOD-CARVING-MACHINE OPERATOR, writing chair. (references)
Etymologies containing "chair": Cathedra. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Chair" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses.

French (flesh, pulp).

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Modern Usage: Chair

DomainUsage

Screenplays

Did not just take out that chair. (American Pie; writing credit: Adam Herz)

Chair number two will be ready in a second (Coming to America; writing credit: David Sheffield)

Get out of my chair! (Twelve Monkeys; writing credit: David Webb Peoples)

We turn ourselves in now, they'll give us twenty years in the electric chair! (Sneakers; writing credit: Phil Alden Robinson, Lawrence Lasker, and Walter F. Parkes.)

I think therefore the chair moves (Birds of Prey; writing credit: Adam Armus; Nora Kay Foster)

Lyrics

Well, excuse me, but I think you've got my chair. (The Chair; performing artist: George Strait)

Alone in your electric chair (You May Be Right; performing artist: Billy Joel)

But sit down in that chair right there ("The Devil Went Down to Georgia"; performing artist: Charlie Daniels Band)

Strapped in the chair of the city's gas chamber (Paradise City; performing artist: Guns N' Roses)

But I busted a chair right across his teeth (A Boy Named Sue; performing artist: Johnny Cash)

Clever

You are getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster. (references; author: unknown)

Movie/TV Titles

La Chair de l'orchidée (1974)

The Electric Chair (1972)

Le Tigre aime la chair fraiche (1964)

Chair de poule (1963)

The Chair (1963)

Song Titles

The Chair (performing artist: George Strait)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Chair

DomainTitle

Books

  • Yoga in an Adirondack Chair (reference)

  • A Chair for My Mother (reference)

  • Double Billing: A Young Lawyer's Tale Of Greed, Sex, Lies, And The Pursuit Of A Swivel Chair (reference)

  • The Brother: The Untold Story of Atomic Spy David Greenglass and How He Sent His Sister, Ethel Rosenberg, to the Electric Chair (reference)

  • The Empty Chair (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

  

Theater & Movies

  • Chair Dancing a New Concept/Aerobics (reference)

    (more DVD examples; more video examples)

  

Music

  

High Tech

  

Consumer Goods

  • Factory Reconditioned Interactive Health HTT.7SRF Human Touch Technology Massage Chair (reference)

  • Remington CHM500 Aire Massage Therapist Sport Chair Massager (reference)

  • Work Gear 90-430 Foldable Tool Chair (reference)

    (more baby examples; more wireless phone examples; more garden examples; more kitchen examples; more tool examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Chair

Photos:
Chair

More pictures...

Illustrations:
Chair

More pictures...

Computer Images:
Chair

More pictures...

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Photo Album: Chair

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

Pictured is a family scene, with a mother reading a story to several children. She is seated in a rocking chair and they are surrounding her on the floor in a family room setting. These people are part of a Mormon family. The Mormons are presently being studied for their low cancer death rate, well below the national average. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer).

Double sounding chair arrangement Effort to double density of soundings Working off of HYDROGRAPHER in 20 to 25 fathoms. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

Great Caspar Signal - built around tree trunk Note boatswain chair transporting man to top 135-foot signal --- main wood scaffold supports instrument Tree trunk supports small scaffolding and observer at top Western terminus of 39th Parallel Survey. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

Charter vessel (CPFV) angler in fighting chair, hooked on a big marlin. Credit: Fisheries.

Black Labrador Retriever trained to work with a women in a wheel chair at 4H dog show. Credit: USDA.

Wheel chair accessible trail at Valley of Fires Recreation Area, near Carrizozo, NM in Roswell Field Office, NM. Credit: Mike Williams.

Old wicker chair on porch at the Shirk Ranch, Lakeview District. Credit: Terry Spivey.

Perkins' Patent Dental Chair. / H. Sebald. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

[Dental Instruments & Apparatus: Advertisement for American Dental Chair Co.] / Tuttle. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

"Next" -- Barber shop scene on board Brooklyn in 1898. Note that this shop uses a portable barber's chair, set up in Brooklyn's windlass room. Credit: NAVY.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Chair
 

"Chair Close Up 1" by Michael Colella
Commentary: "A chair close up using natural light."
"Vintage chair" by Mark Low
Commentary: "Old vintage chair on balkoney waiting to be forgotten If you use it, please email me. I just like to know (and see) how it gets used."

Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Sounds Captioned with "Chair".

PlayCaptionPlayCaption
Keys clanking together; wooden chair sliding against a linoleum floor.A metal folding chair being stacked onto others.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Chair

AuthorQuotation

Benjamin Franklin

The discontented man finds no easy chair.

Emerson

The colleges, while they provide us with libraries, furnish no professors of books; and I think no chair is so much needed.

President Lyndon B. Johnson

We don't propose to sit here in our rocking chair with our hands folded and let the Communists set up any government in the Western Hemisphere.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Chair

TitleAuthorQuote

Emma

Austen, Jane

Before he could return to his chair, it was taken by Mrs. Weston

Sylvie and Bruno

Carroll, Lewis

No one noticed me in the least, as I quietly took a chair and sat down to watch them

A Christmas Carol

Dickens, Charles

There was a chair set close beside the child, and there were signs of some one having been there, lately

Life, the Universe and Everything

Douglas Adams

One thing, he further added, "has suddenly ceased to lead to another" - in contradiction of which he had another drink and slid gracelessly off his chair.

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

There was not even a chair of any kind

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

Mr Dedalus laughed loudly and lay back in his chair while uncle Charles swayed his head to and fro.

Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck, John

A lot and a house large enough for a desk and chair and a blue book

Gulliver's Travels

Swift, Jonathan

I had a table placed upon the same at which her Majesty ate, just at her left elbow, and a chair to sit on.

Walden

Thoreau, Henry David

With such huge and lumbering civility the country hands a chair to the city

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Chair

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

You may sit in a special chair or lie down on a treatment table. (references)

Some may feel a little shaky or have difficulty getting out of a chair. (references)

By the time they are in their teens, many are confined to a wheel chair. (references)

Business

Also tower cranes, electric stairways, walk ways, chair lifts, funiculars. (references)

Civil Liberties

Russia

The Duma's International Relations Committee chair Dmitriy Rogozin welcomed the move, arguing that law enforcement would be more effective in preventing illegal immigration. (references)

Jordan

In March 2000, Jordan's University's administration amended the Student Council election law, granting the University president the authority to appoint half of the University's 80-member student council, including the chair. (references)

Russia

Nonetheless such concerns have abated, and according to Lyudmila Alekseyeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the majority of groups that desired to register were able to do so, although at times only after repeated attempts. (references)

Economic History

South Africa

In August 1998, South Africa assumed the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement. (references)

Armenia

As a result, the Prime Minister announced that his office will chair the tender commission. (references)

The Netherlands

The Netherlands will host and chair the Climate Change Conference (COP-6) in November 2000. (references)

Human Rights

Malaysia

He said that, among other things, he had been knocked from a chair while handcuffed. (references)

Russia

According to Commission chair Vladimir Kartashkin, his role is mainly consultative and investigatory, without powers of enforcement. (references)

Georgia

They allegedly struck Romanov on the head and shoulders, burned him on the forehead and face with cigarettes, and beat him with a chair leg wrapped in tape. (references)

Minorities

Albania

There also is a Greek chair at the University of Gjirokaster. (references)

Slovak Republic

SNS Chair Anna Malikova accused the SMK representatives of committing the crime of supporting movements that oppress human rights and freedom when they attended the celebrations. (references)

Political Economy

South Africa

South Africa also currently serves as the Chair of both the Non-Aligned Movement and the Commonwealth of Nations. (references)

Political Rights

Slovak Republic

In November the country's first regional elections were held; in December the second round of voting for the position of Regional Chair was held. (references)

South Africa

Women occupy three of four parliamentary presiding officer positions (speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly, and chair of the NCOP). (references)

Russia

Central Election Commission (CEC) chair Aleksandr Veshnyakov, cited term-limit laws, declared that Nikolayev's candidacy was "not legal" and said that the CEC might cancel his registration. (references)

Trade

France

Its governor is the chair of the Committee on Credit Institutions, which grants or withdraws banking licenses. (references)

Finland

Finland chaired the Zangger Committee in 1989-93 and the NSG in 1995-96 and is the chair of the MTCR until fall 2001. (references)

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

DEPUTY, n. A male relative of an office-holder, or of his bondsman. The deputy is commonly a beautiful young man, with a red necktie and an intricate system of cobwebs extending from his nose to his desk. When accidentally struck by the janitor's broom, he gives off a cloud of dust. "Chief Deputy," the Master cried, "To-day the books are to be tried By experts and accountants who Have been commissioned to go through Our office here, to see if we Have stolen injudiciously. Please have the proper entries made, The proper balances displayed, Conforming to the whole amount Of cash on hand -- which they will count. I've long admired your punctual way -- Here at the break and close of day, Confronting in your chair the crowd Of business men, whose voices loud And gestures violent you quell By some mysterious, calm spell -- Some magic lurking in your look That brings the noisiest to book And spreads a holy and profound Tranquillity o'er all around. So orderly all's done that they Who came to draw remain to pay. But now the time demands, at last, That you employ your genius vast In energies more active. Rise And shake the lightnings from your eyes; Inspire your underlings, and fling Your spirit into everything!" The Master's hand here dealt a whack Upon the Deputy's bent back, When straightway to the floor there fell A shrunken globe, a rattling shell A blackened, withered, eyeless head! The man had been a twelvemonth dead. Jamrach Holobom

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Spoken Usage: Chair

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Archbishop Harry Flynn

That was not within the purview of our mandate. My mandate, as the chair of this committee, was to come forth with a charter for the protection of children and young people. I think we've done that.

Dan Rather

Well, I'm not sure you can't be. You couldn't be at CBS News. The culture at CBS News wouldn't allow such a person to come to the anchor chair.

Dennis Miller

A crowning sensor in the chair can tell when the woman is fully dilated.

Rush Limbaugh

In the eighties, Taylor had a twice-weekly segment on a Denver television station, and the clip shown in an ad run by Democrats shows Taylor applying lotions to the face of a man sitting in the barber chair with Taylor discussing techniques.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Speeches: Chair

SpeakerTermPhrase(s)

Ronald Reagan

1981-1989At the back of the chair was painted the picture of a sun on the horizon.

Bill Clinton

1993-2001You know, when the framers finished crafting our Constitution in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin stood in Independence Hall and he reflected on the carving of the sun that was on the back of a chair he saw.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Chair

"Chair" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.12% of the time. "Chair" is used about 7,857 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)98.12%7,7091,255
Lexical Verb (infinitive)1.59%12528,650
Lexical Verb (base form)0.2%1687,710
Noun (proper)0.06%5157,705
Unclassified Items0.03%2245,945
                    Total100.00%7,857N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Chair

Expressions using "chair": address the chair baby's chair back of a chair bamboo chair barber chair barber's chair barrel chair basket chair bath chair be in the chair beach chair boatswain's chair bosun's chair cabriole chair camp chair camps chair cane chair captain's chair Cassiopea's chair Cassiopeia's Chair chair a meeting chair back chair bottom chair car Chair days chair grip chair lift chair lock chair mat chair of delivery chair smb. off chair warmer choke chair club chair death chair deck chair dentist's chair Eames chair easy chair elbow chair electric chair empty chair feeding chair fighting chair folding chair garden chair gestatorial chair grandfather chair grandfather's chair hammock chair high chair invalid chair Joint chair kitchen chair lady chair lawn chair leather seated chair leave the chair leg of chair lounge chair metal chair morris chair overstuffed chair plop down into a chair potty chair presidential chair professor occupying an endowed chair professorial chair push chair put it on the chair rail chair rattan chair reclining chair revolving chair rock in a rocking chair rocking chair rolling chair sedan chair side chair sink into a chair sit back in one's chair slouching in a chair socialism of the chair steamer chair straight chair swivel chair tablet chair take a chair take the chair the back of a chair the electric chair To put into the chair To take the chair upholstered chair upright chair vacant chair walking chair wheel chair wicker chair Windsor chair wing chair. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "chair": chair-and-desk, chair-arms, chair-back, chair-backs, chair-based, chair-bed, chair-bodgers, chair-bound, chair-chair, chair-covers, chair-cum-bed, chair-designate, chair-frames, chair-is, chair-leg, chair-legs, chair-lift, chair-lifts, chair-makers, chair-making, chair-men, chair-o-plane, chair-o-planes, chair-person, chair-rail, chair-ridden, chair-shape, chair-shuffling, chair-straddling, chair-then.

Ending with "chair": arm-chair, bath-chair, co-chair, deck-chair, high-chair, vice-chair, wheel-chair.

Containing "chair": deck-chair hammock.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Chair

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

beach chair

5,579

lounge chair

464

chair

4,448

wheel chair lift

442

wheel chair

2,700

dining room chair

441

adirondack chair

2,341

wheel chair ramp

422

rocking chair

1,451

chair pad

415

bean bag chair

1,401

chair cushion

398

office chair

1,236

aeron chair

374

massage chair

1,032

computer chair

367

folding chair

749

ergonomic chair

365

dining chair

636

antique chair

347

leather chair

625

kitchen chair

338

director chair

605

hammock chair

338

chair cover

599

power wheel chair

330

electric wheel chair

576

desk chair

329

lawn chair

558

recliner chair

305

electric chair

530

camping chair

297

papasan chair

516

parson chair

280

lift chair

513

sky chair

274

butterfly chair

510

wood chair

269

high chair

493

conference chair

261
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Chair

Language Translations for "chair"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Afrikaans

  

stoel. (various references)

   

Albanian

  

karrige (place, seat). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏كرسي (seat, throne), ‏مقعد (bench, couch, cripple, crippled, disable, incapacitated, infirm, invalid, lame, seat, settee, sofa, stool), ‏مقر السلطة, ‏الكرسي الكهربائي (electric chair). (various references)

   

Asturian

  

siella. (various references)

   

Aymara

  

qont'asiña (to sit). (various references)

   

Bemba

  

icipuna (beach, couch). (various references)

   

Blackfoot

  

asóópa'tsis. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

стол-носилка (sedan, sedan chair), стол (canteen, pew, refectory, seat), релсова подложка, катедра (console). (various references)

   

Catalan

  

cadira. (various references)

   

Cebuano

  

lingkoranan. (various references)

   

Chamorro

  

siya. (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

椅子 . (various references)

   

Cornish

  

cadar. (various references)

   

Czech

  

židle. (various references)

   

Danish

  

stol (cabin, car, shop). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

stoel (seat). (various references)

   

Ecuadorian Quechua

  

tiyarina (to sit). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

seĝo, se“on. (various references)

   

Faeroese

  

stólur. (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

مقر (Domicile, Seat, Stead), کرسی استادی دردانشگاه , صندلی (Place, Seat, Stall), برکرسی یاصندلی نشاندن . (various references)

   

Finnish

  

tuoli (seat, stool). (various references)

   

French

  

chaise (side chair), siège. (various references)

   

Frisian

  

stoel. (various references)

   

German

  

Stuhl (bowel movement, motion, stool, throne, upright chair), Vorsitz (chairmanship, leadership, presidency), professur (professorship). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

καρέκλα (side chair), έδρα (bench, seat). (various references)

   

Hawaiian

  

karrige. (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

קתדרה (seat), כיסא, כסא (seat). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

szék (seat, stool), tanszék (department). (various references)

   

Icelandic

  

stóll. (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

kursi. (various references)

   

Inuktitut

  

iksivautaq. (various references)

   

Irish

  

cathaoir. (various references)

   

Italian

  

sedia (chaise, deckchair, seat). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

講座 (course, lectureship), チェーン店 (a check, celesta, chain, chain store, chairman, Chechin, Chechnia, checker, checker-player, checkers, check-in, check-in counter, checkmate, check-out, checksum, Chernobyl, cherry, chess, chess match, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia), 椅子 , 倚子 (couch, office, position, seat). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

チェア , いす, いし (couch, death by hanging, doctor, dying wish, having a person under one's control, intention, office, physician, position, posthumous child, purpose, ruins, seat, stone, volition, will), こうざ (account, course, crouching, lectureship, platform, pulpit, stage, upper seat). (various references)

   

Kongo

  

kiti. (various references)

   

Korean 

  

의자. (various references)

   

Lombard

  

cadrega. (various references)

   

Macedonian

  

stol. (various references)

   

Malay

  

kursi. (various references)

   

Manx

  

cummeyder (composer, designer, fabricator, holder, inventor, supporter), caair. (various references)

   

Maori

  

tuuru. (various references)

   

Maya

  

xeek. (various references)

   

Mohawk

  

ennitskwàra. (various references)

   

Norwegian

  

stol. (various references)

   

Papago

  

thaikud. (various references)

   

Papiamen

  

stul. (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

airchay.(various references)

   

Polish

  

krzesło. (various references)

   

Portuguese

  

cadeira (commode, professorate, professoriate, professorship, seat, stall, subject). (various references)

   

Provencal

  

cadièra. (various references)

   

Romanian

  

scaun (commode, movement, pew, seat, stool). (various references)

   

Romansch

  

sutga. (various references)

   

Romany

  

skomi. (various references)

   

Ruanda

  

intebe (couch). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

стул (bowel movement, desk chair, stool). (various references)

   

Samoan

  

nofoa. (various references)

   

Scottish

  

cathair (a chair, a city, city). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

stolica (chaise, stool), predsedništvo (chairmanship, presidency, presidentship), predsedavati (preside), predsedavajući (chairman, chairperson, moderator, speaker). (various references)

   

Sicilian

  

seggia. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

silla (seat, tabouret), presidencia (chairmanship, presidency, presidentship). (various references)

   

Sranan

  

sturu. (various references)

   

Swahili

  

kiti (seat). (various references)

   

Swazi

  

sí-hlalo. (various references)

   

Swedish

  

stol (seat). (various references)

   

Tagalog

  

sílya, úpuan. (various references)

   

Thai

  

เก้าอี้, นั่งเก้าอี้, ตำแหน่งประธาน, ตำแหน่งศาสตราจารย์, ดำรงตำแหน่งประธาน. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

yetki vermek (accredit, authorise, authorize, capacitate, create, empower, enable, entitle, intitle, invest, licence, license, qualify, vest, vest with, warrant), yönetmek (administer, administrate, boss, captain, celebrate, command, conduct, direct, edit, govern, head, lead, oversee, police, preside, produce, rule, run, run the show, steer, supervise), tahtırevan (litter, palanquin, sedan, sedan chair), sandalye, sandâlyeye oturtmak, sandâlye (seat), makama geçirmek, makam (modal, mode, office, place, quarter, station, strain, tune), koltuk (armchair, elbow chair, seat, stall), kürsü (bench, dais, desk, green table, lectern, professorial chair, professorship, pulpit, rostrum, stand, Tribune), iskemle, elektrikli sandalye (electric chair, hot seat), başkanlık makamı, başkanlık etmek (be in the chair, moderate, pontificate, pontify, preside, take the chair), başkan (chairman, chairperson, chief executive, chief magistrate, chieftain, Dean, head, moderator, president, principal). (various references)

   

Turkmen 

  

stul (r), oturgyз. (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

очолювати (captain, head, manage), посада професора, посада судді (magistracy), професура (professorate, professoriate), піднімати й нести, бути головою, місце головуючого, посадити на трон, обирати головою, суддівство, голова (attic, bean, chairman, chief, conk, head, nob, noddle, noggin, noodle, nut, onion, pate, president, topknot), головування (chairmanship, presidency, presidentship), кафедра (cathedra, dais, pew), крісло (armchair), саджати (bed, plant, put), стілець (seat, tabouret), місце свідка на суді. (various references)

   

Welsh

  

cadair (cradle, seat, udder). (various references)

   

Yucatec

  

k'anche'. (various references)

   

Zulu

  

isihlalo. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Chair

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Sumerian3100 BCE-2500 BCE

guzza. (various references)

Greek700 BCE-300 CE

thronos. (various references)

Latin500 BCE-Modern

cathedra, sede, sedechiae, sedechias, sedeciam, sedecias, sedei, sedem, sedes, sedi, sedibus, sedilia, sedis, sedium, sedum, sela, sella, sellae, sellai, sellam, selles, sellum. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Chair

Derivations

Words beginning with "chair": chaired, chairing, chairlift, chairlifts, chairman, chairmaned, chairmaning, chairmanned, chairmanning, chairmans, chairmanship, chairmanships, chairmen, chairperson, chairpersons, chairs, chairwoman, chairwomen. (additional references)

Words ending with "chair": armchair, bedchair, cochair, highchair, pushchair, wheelchair. (additional references)

Words containing "chair": armchairs, bedchairs, cochaired, cochairing, cochairman, cochairmen, cochairperson, cochairpersons, cochairs, cochairwoman, cochairwomen, highchairs, pushchairs, wheelchairs. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Chair" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cahir, cair, caira, cairt, cairy, ccmail, Chabi, chacra, chai, chaif, chaim, chaio, Chaire, chairm, Chairn, chais, chait, chaiw, Chakri, chami, chaor, chari, Charr, chaud, Chaudry, chauf, chaur, Chauri, chayil, cheim, cheiro, cheiy, cheri, chhay, chia, Chiah, Chiam, chiao, Chiari, chir, chiro, choid, choiry, chria, Chtaura, Chui, Chuirn, Chware, clair, dhair, Dhari, Ghairbh, kair, khabiri, khair, Kharif, Khatir, Khebir, Khrayr, Khwaia, Schaar, shair. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Chair"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "chair" (pronounced khe"r)
2-e" raffair, air, aware, bare, bear, beware, billionaire, blare, care, compare, concessionaire, dare, debonair, declare, despair, disrepair, doctrinaire, ensnare, err, Eyre, fair, fare, fer, flair, flare, forswear, glare, hair, hare, heir, impair, lair, Lehr, Mair, mare, midair, millionaire, multimillionaire, pair, pare, pear, prayer, prepare, questionnaire, rare, repair, scare, share, snare, solitaire, spare, Square, stair, stare, swear, tear, their, there, unaware, unfair, ware, wear, where.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Chair

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "a-c-h-i-r"

-1 letter: arch, char, chia, hair, rich.

-2 letters: air, arc, car, chi, hic, ich, rah, ria.

-3 letters: ah, ai, ar, ha, hi.

 Words containing the letters "a-c-h-i-r"
 

+1 letter: achier, archil, cahier, chadri, chairs, chimar, chiral, inarch, rachis.

 

+2 letters: archaic, archils, archine, arching, archive, brachia, cahiers, carlish, cashier, chagrin, chaired, charier, charily, charing, chariot, charism, charity, charlie, charpai, charqui, chimars, chimera, chivari, choragi, chorial, chrisma, cithara, cochair, dharmic, diarchy, graphic, haircap, haircut, haricot, hayrick, rachial, rhachis, ricksha, scraich, scraigh, theriac.

 

+3 letters: abrachia, achiever, achromic, acrolith, actorish, aetheric, agraphic, aircheck, aircoach, anarchic, anorthic, arachnid, archaise, archaism, archaist, archaize, archines, archings, archival, archived, archives, armchair, arythmic, aspheric, atrophic, beachier, bedchair, brachial, brachium, brackish, branchia, bronchia, camphire, carritch, cashiers, catchier, chadarim, chaffier, chagrins, chairing, chairman, chairmen, chalkier, chancier, chapiter, characid, characin, charging, chariest, chariots, charisma, charisms, charking, charlies, charming, charpais, charquid, charquis, charrier, charring, charting, chartist, chattier, chedarim, chicaner, chimaera, chimeras, chivalry, chivaree, choragic, choriamb, chrismal, citharas, cochairs, crankish, crashing, crawfish, crayfish, diarchic, drachmai, dyarchic, eucharis, graphics, hacklier, hadronic, haircaps, haircuts, hairlock, haricots, harmonic, hayricks, heraldic, heroical, hetaeric, hierarch, hieratic, hijacker, hipparch, hydracid, hyracoid, inarched, inarches, leachier, marchesi, marching, mariachi, oligarch, omniarch, orphical, parchesi, parching, parchisi, parhelic, parritch, patchier, peachier, phratric, phreatic, pilchard, poachier, prochain, rachides, rachilla, rachises, rachitic, rachitis, ranching, reaching, rhematic, rickshas, rickshaw, roaching, scraichs, scraighs, seraphic, theatric, theriaca, theriacs, thoracic, tovarich, tracheid, triarchy, tribrach, trichina, trochaic, whackier, whitrack.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern
5. Usage: Commercial
6. Images: Slideshow
7. Images: Photo Album
8. Images: Digital Art
9. Sounds
10. Quotations: Familiar
11. Quotations: Fiction
12. Quotations: Non-fiction
13. Quotations: Spoken
14. Quotations: Speeches
15. Usage Frequency
16. Expressions
17. Expressions: Internet
18. Translations: Modern
19. Translations: Ancient
20. Derivations
21. Rhymes
22. Anagrams
23. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.