chair / che(ə)r/ • n. 1. a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs. ∎ hist. a sedan chair. ∎ short for chairlift.2. the person in charge of a meeting or organization (used as a neutral alternative to chairman or chairwoman). ∎  an official position of authority, for example on a board of directors: the editorial chair. ∎  (also chair umpire) Tennis another term for umpire.3. a professorship: he held a chair in physics.4. a particular seat in an orchestra: [as adj. , in combination] she was fourth-chair trumpet. 5. (the chair) short for electric chair.• v. [tr.] 1. act as chairperson of or preside over (an organization, meeting, or public event).2. Brit. carry (someone) aloft to celebrate a victory.

chair XIII (chaere, chaier). — AN. chaere, OF. chaiere (mod. chaire bishop's throne, pulpit, etc.) :- L. cathedra — Gr. kathédrā (see CATHEDRAL).
Hence chairman XVII.