Chair

(char.) (From Fr. chaise, a seat.) Anciently, the suggest um, or pulpit, whence the priest or public orator addre ed the people.- Among the moderns, the term is applied to the place whence profe ors in colleges and academies deliver their lectures; as, a profe or's chair. It is also commonly used with reference to the speaker or president of a public council or a embly, as the speaker's chair; and,by a metonymy, means the speaker himself; as, to addre the chair.Curule chair. (Rom. Antiq.) An ivory seat appointed to be used by the chief magistrates of Rome, and those to whom the honor of a triumph was granted. -Sedan chair, a vehicle in which one person is carried by means of poles slung on the shoulders of a couple of bearers:they are little used at the present day. (Civ. Engin.) In railroad construction, the iron box into which the rails are wedged at intervals, and by means of which they are secured to the sleepers. [s. 162]