FluentPlex

pair

/pɛɹ/ noun A1
  1. Two alike or identical things taken together; often followed by of. · I couldn't decide which of the pair of designer shirts I preferred, so I bought the pair.
  2. One of the constituent items that make up a pair.
  3. Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship. · Spouses should make a great pair.
  4. Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts). · a pair of scissors; two pairs of spectacles; several pairs of jeans
  5. A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke. · A pair is harder to drive than two mounts with separate riders.
  6. A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
  7. A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.
  8. A double play, two outs recorded in one play. (informal) · They turned a pair to end the fifth.

Plural pairs

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From the library

Next he drew forth a pair of boots.
The Valley of Fear, p. 89 · C1
They are as jealous as a pair of professional beauties.
A Study in Scarlet, p. 24 · B2
Danglars and Caderousse set off upon their errand at full speed; but ere they had gone many steps they perceived a group advancing towards them, composed of the betrothed pair, a party of young girls in attendance on the bride, by whose side walked Dantès’ father; the whole brought up by Fernand, whose lips wore their usual sinister smile.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 22 · C1
His thin but wiry legs were arrayed in a pair of richly embroidered clocked stockings, evidently of English manufacture, while from his three-cornered hat depended a long streaming knot of white and blue ribbons.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 22 · C1

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Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.