doubles

1. 1
   noununcountableplural

   A match in a racket sport contested between two teams of two players each.

   The pair reached the doubles final after a grueling three-set match.

   Mixed doubles pairs one man and one woman on each side of the net.

   Oppositesingles

   Note

   In this sporting sense the plural is the only form. A single double does not mean one such game. The word names a format rather than counting things, so it is played without an article (let's play doubles). It often sits before another noun as a modifier: a doubles final, a doubles partner. Mixed doubles narrows it to pairs of one man and one woman.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of double.

   The studio kept a roster of doubles for its busiest action stars.

   The bar sells doubles at half price during happy hour.

   Note

   Here the word is an ordinary count plural. It takes numbers and a plural verb: two doubles of one painting, a roster of stunt doubles, three doubles poured at the bar. That sets it apart from the game played in pairs, which is plural in form but names a single format (let's play doubles), and from the verb form in the population doubles.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of double.

   He doubles as both the team manager and the head coach.

   The factory doubles its output during the holiday season.

   Note

   This is the form that goes with he, she, it or a singular noun, and it serves both sides of the verb. With an object it multiplies (the factory doubles its output). Without one it grows (the population doubles every ten minutes). In baseball, a batter who doubles gets a two-base hit. The spelling is shared with the noun plural, so the sentence around it decides which one is meant.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A sandwich from Trinidad and Tobago made of two pieces of bara, a flat fried bread, filled with curried chickpeas.

   Vendors across Port of Spain serve doubles from the early morning.

   She topped her doubles with extra pepper sauce and a spoonful of tamarind.

5. 5
   noununcountableplural

   A method of change ringing performed on five bells, in which the order of striking is varied through set sequences.

   The tower captain called the band to ring doubles before the service.

   Beginners often start with doubles before progressing to more complex methods.

   Note

   Change ringers use this name for methods rung on five working bells, as in plain bob doubles or Grandsire doubles. Five bells allow 120 possible changes, and a tenor is often rung behind as cover. The method's name comes first and doubles follows it. A set length can lead the phrase, as in a quarter peal of plain bob doubles. Like the sporting sense, it has no singular.

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