Chair - in Language

In Language

  • A film or a story is said to keep you on the edge of your seat, if it is suspenseful or engaging.
  • If you nearly fell off your chair, it was because you were very surprised.
  • An orchestra awards a musician a chair or seat based on ability. The best player in a particular section will receive "first chair," or the "principal seat." It is also common for this position to be known as 'first stand,' a reference to the portable lectern on which the musicians put their sheet music. However, the person who is first chair in the first violin section is usually referred to as the concertmaster in the USA or leader in the UK.
  • Musical chairs is a common party game, and a colloquial expression to describe people shuffling from seat to seat, or around different locations.
  • In American slang, to say someone has gotten "the chair" is to say that they have been executed by an electric chair.
  • To be on its last leg is an expression that stems from the practice of sawing the ends of chair legs off in previous centuries. It means that it is decrepit and nearing the end of its serviceability.

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