repair

Formsrepairs, repairing, repaired

Pluralrepairs

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To restore something damaged to good working order; to mend or fix it.

   A skilled mechanic can repair almost any engine fault.

   They repaired the bridge after the flood washed out a section.

   Similarfix, mend, restore, overhaul, service

   Oppositebreak, damage

   Note

   The everyday mending sense comes from Latin reparō, "renew," and older uses keep that flavor. Milton's Samson Agonistes has secret refreshment that will "repair his strength," and Wordsworth asks the daisy to repair his heart with gladness. Besides houses, roads, shoes and ships, it readily takes abstract objects such as a shattered fortune. It is a different word from the verb of going somewhere, which has its own history.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of fixing or mending something that is damaged.

   The repair of the engine required several specialized tools.

   Careful repair restored the painting to its original state.

   Similarmending, fixing, restoration, servicing, overhaul

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The mended part or restored state that results from fixing something.

   The repair blended in so well that no one noticed the old damage.

   A good repair should last for years without coming loose.

   Similarpatch, mend, fix

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The state of something considered in terms of how much mending it needs.

   The landlord is required to keep the building in good repair.

   Years of neglect left the chapel in a sad state of repair.

   Similarcondition, shape, order, state

   Note

   A noun that lives in a few set phrases: in good repair, in poor repair, in excellent repair, and the final verdict, beyond repair. Damaged beyond repair turns up in accident reports, as in Modern Railways in 1962 of a locomotive and RAIL in 2020 of thirteen houses. The adjective in front carries the judgment, while repair itself stays neutral.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To make amends for an injury or loss by giving something of equal value; to compensate for.

   The company offered payment to repair the losses suffered by the families.

   No apology could fully repair the injury done to his good name.

   Similarredress, remedy, rectify

   Note

   Here the object is the harm itself, not the person harmed. You repair a loss, a damage or an injury, and the repair is an equivalent given back. Shakespeare's King Lear has "I'll repair the misery thou dost bear." Where the mending sense puts a broken thing right, this one settles a debt, which brings it close to indemnify and compensate.

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To take oneself to another place; to go or withdraw to a destination.

   After the meeting, the directors repaired to a private club.

   Let us repair to the study and discuss the matter.

   Similarretire, withdraw, adjourn, retreat, proceed

   Note

   The verb behind the noun of going nearly always takes to plus a destination: repair to sanctuary, to the shades, to one's chambers. Although it means taking oneself somewhere, it needs no reflexive pronoun. Pope's Statius, Bulwer-Lytton's Pelham (1828) and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847) all use it this way. Brontë has visitors who "repair to their chambers."

7. 7
   nouncountable

   A place that one visits often or habitually; a haunt.

   The riverside inn was a popular repair for travelers heading north.

   That quiet bookshop remained her favorite repair for many years.

   Similarhaunt, resort, retreat

   Note

   From the act of going, the noun shifted to the place gone to. Dryden's Annus Mirabilis (1667) has fierce winds beating a figure "downward to his first repair," meaning his starting place or home ground. One spelling can therefore name both the going and the destination. In this sense it sits beside haunt as a word for somewhere habitually returned to.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   The act of going or making one's way to a particular place.

   Our yearly repair to the lake house starts the week school lets out.

   After the speeches there was a general repair to the garden, where drinks were waiting.

   Similartrip, retreat, move, withdrawal

   Note

   A different word from the repair that mends, despite the identical spelling: it comes through Old French repairier from Late Latin repatriare, "to return to one's country," and is a cousin of repatriate. The noun names the going itself, usually followed by to and a destination: an annual repair to the mountains. Clarendon writes of a king's proclamation for their repair to their houses, a return home that keeps close to the Latin.

9. 9
   SayREE-pairUS/ˈɹiˌpɛɚ/UK/ˈɹiːpɛə/

   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To put two things or people into a pair again, or to form a pair once more.

   Her watch had been paired with her old phone, so she went into the settings menu to repair it with the new one.

   Keepers hoped the two swans would repair once the new season began.

   Note

   A third word that happens to share the spelling. It is simply re- plus pair and has nothing to do with mending. It belongs to devices and partners, and it takes to or with for the other half: repair the earbuds to each other, repaired with one another. Only context separates it from the mending verb: a repaired headset may be fixed or merely reconnected.

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