PAIR OFF • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Pair off

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/pɛr ɔf/ Listen

verb

Pair v. i. (past & past part. paired; pres. part. pairing)

To be joined in pairs; to couple; to mate, as for breeding.

To suit; to fit, as a counterpart. "My heart was made to fit and pair with thine."

Same as To pair off. See phrase below.

To pair off, to separate from a group in pairs or couples; specif. (Parliamentary Cant), to agree with one of the opposite party or opinion to abstain from voting on specified questions or issues. See Pair, n., 6.

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Etymology of 'Pair off'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pair off" Quotes from Famous Books

... hours later, when the pattering of feet in the long corridors died down to a mere trail of sound, that Jane and Judith managed to pair off for a confidential chat. ...

— Jane Allen: Junior • Edith Bancroft

... time he faced the wall he eyed that spire which to him represented the whole town, the whole earth spread beneath the scudding clouds. Noisy groups waxed hot in disputation round the plane-trees; friends would pair off in the corners under the spying glance of some director concealed behind his window-blind. Tennis and skittle matches would be quickly organised to the great discomfort of quiet loto players who lounged on the ground before their cardboard ...

— Abbe Mouret's Transgression - La Faute De L'abbe Mouret • Emile Zola

... so bad as Argon the Lazy and the other celibate gases of that family, where each individual atom goes off by itself and absolutely refuses to unite even temporarily with any other atom. The nitrogen atoms will pair off with each other and stick together, but they are reluctant to associate with other elements and when they do the combination is likely to break up any moment. You all know people like that, good enough when by themselves but sure to break up ...

— Creative Chemistry - Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical Industries • Edwin E. Slosson

... course." Like and like together strike. Birds of a feather flock together. Similis similibus. But it often happens in this life, though they meet they do not pair off. Very often indeed they meet, but to part. There must be, even where the affinity exists, consideration and forethought to test the affinity. It requires long practice even for keen eyes to recognize the amethyst or topaz, or many other gems, in their natural state ...

— The Mystic Will • Charles Godfrey Leland

... field of investigation, so here, we find that not all of the facts conform to our classification. Thus occasionally couples between eight and twelve or fourteen years of age are found who enjoy each other's company and so pair off and freely express their feelings as they do in the previous stage and also in the one that follows. The boys of these couples are generally those of effeminate tendencies who have been accustomed to play with girls instead of with boys. They are ...

— A Preliminary Study of the Emotion of Love between the Sexes • Sanford Bell