[tʃɛː], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs

- the person in charge of a meeting or of an organization (used as a neutral alternative to chairman or chairwoman)
(e.g: she's the chair of a research committee)

- a professorship
(e.g: he held a chair in physics)

- a metal socket holding a rail in place on a railway sleeper


Phrases:
- take the chair

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

[tʃɛː], (Verb)

Definitions:
- act as chairperson of or preside over (an organization, meeting, or public event)
(e.g: the debate was chaired by the Archbishop of York)

- carry (someone) aloft in a chair or in a sitting position to celebrate a victory
(e.g: no one seemed anxious to chair him round the hall)


Phrases:
- take the chair

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