To chair is a term used to describe the highest officer of an organized group, such as a board, committee or deliberative assembly. The chair is elected by the board of directors and is responsible for presiding over meetings and setting the agenda. They also work to keep the meeting content focused and engaging, and they have a lot of influence over the decisions made by the board.

The word is derived from the Greek k, which means “down” and edra, which means “seat.” It was once a more general word, but today it is limited to chairs and similar devices that serve as seats, such as stools, couches and sofas.

A chair is a piece of furniture for one person to sit on, usually having a back and four legs. It can be a simple stool or a more complex sofa, settee or even a bench.

This definition is based on the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1997. A table is a different type of chair, which is usually used for eating or drinking.

Several chairs have evolved over the course of history, each for a specific purpose or function. The most common types are the desk chair, the lounge chair, the dining chair and the rocking chair.

The seat is usually adapted for comfort and stability, distributing weight from the legs to the buttocks and hips. The height is often adjusted to accommodate anthropometric measurements including hip breadth, buttock-knee length and the distance between rows of chairs, called “seat pitch.”

There are a variety of chair styles, from upholstered ones that look like a couch or a settee to metal and leather ones, as well as more modern designs such as the folding chair. Many modern chairs, such as those in the office or classroom, are designed to be movable, allowing them to adapt to a variety of teaching styles and to quickly transition from lecture-based seating to group activity.

In reinforced-concrete construction, a device used to maintain the position of reinforcing rods or strands during pouring operations. The device is sometimes called a jointchair, or the “chair of the rails,” since it secures the connection of two rails at their ends.

To preside over a meeting or a committee is to chair it, and this is usually done by the president of the company or someone with a higher rank within the organization. A chairperson is the most prominent and influential figure at a board meeting, and they typically have a lot of power in making the important decisions for the company.