chair

 
Pronunciation: /tʃɛː/

noun

  • 1a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs.
  • (the chair)short for electric chair.
  • 2the person in charge of a meeting or of an organization (used as a neutral alternative to chairman or chairwoman): she’s the chair of a research committee
  • the post of a chairperson: he was due to step down after a three-year stint in the chair
  • 3a professorship: he held a chair in physics
  • 4chiefly British a metal socket holding a rail in place on a railway sleeper.

verb

[with object]
  • 1act as chairperson of or preside over (an organization, meeting, or public event): the debate was chaired by the Archbishop of York
  • 2British carry (someone) aloft in a chair or in a sitting position to celebrate a victory: no one seemed anxious to chair him round the hall

Phrases

take the chair

act as chairperson: the account executive will usually take the chair in meetings

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French chaiere (modern chaire 'bishop's throne, etc.', chaise 'chair'), from Latin cathedra 'seat', from Greek kathedra. Compare with cathedral