Chair (?), n. [OE. chaiere, chaere, OF. chaiere, chaere, F. chaire pulpit, fr. L. cathedra chair, armchair, a teacher's or professor's chair, Gr. � down + � seat, � to sit, akin to E. sit. See Sit, and cf. Cathedral, chaise.]
1. A movable single seat with a back.
2. An official seat, as of a chief magistrate or a judge, but esp. that of a professor; hence, the office itself.
The chair of a philosophical school.
Whewell.
A chair of philology.
M. Arnold.
3. The presiding officer of an assembly; a chairman; as, to address the chair.
4. A vehicle for one person; either a sedan borne upon poles, or two-wheeled carriage, drawn by one horse; a gig. Shak.
Think what an equipage thou hast in air,
And view with scorn two pages and a chair.
Pope.
5. An iron block used on railways to support the rails and secure them to the sleepers.
Chair days, days of repose and age. — To put into the chair, to elect as president, or as chairman of a meeting. Macaulay. — To take the chair, to assume the position of president, or of chairman of a meeting.