affair

plural affairs · alternative obsolete affaire

1. in pluraloftenSomething which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public.

   a difficult affair to manage

   2 more examples

   Responsibility is my affair, reciprocity is his.

   1992, Zygmunt Bauman, Mortality, Immortality and Other Life Strategies, →ISBN, page 45

   There are a number of issues external to the institution that can influence the fiscal management of student affairs.

   2011, George S. McClellan, Jeremy Stringer, The Handbook of Student Affairs Administration, →ISBN

   Synonyms: matter, concern

2. Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely.

   an affair of love

   an intrigue

   3 more examples

   an affair of honor

   a duel

   The house was a ramshackle affair.

   The Creole affair is important because, from the slaves' standpoint, the Creole affair was the most successful slave revolt in American history.

   2014, Arthur T. Downey, The Creole Affair, →ISBN

   Synonyms: goings-on, happening, befalling, episode, instance, event, goings-on, happening

3. governmentAn action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.
4. A material object (vaguely designated).

   This garden is a ramshackle affair.

   5 more examples

   He used a hook-shaped affair with a long handle to unlock the car.

   She wore a starched white affair on her head, had a wart on one cheek, and silver-rimmed spectacles hung on the tip of her nose.

   1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 200

   The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.

   1944, Miles Burton, The Three Corpse Trick, chapter 5

   About ¼ mile north of Uxbridge terminus, an inclined connection drops to the goods yard, a small affair of a few coal sidings at ground level, west of the station.

   1952 March, R. K. Kirkland, “The Railways of Uxbridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 151

5. An adulterous relationship, chiefly of a married person. (from affaire de cœur, affair of the heart).

   Mary had an affair with a woman from the gym.

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   When Martin's wife found out about his affair with her best friend, she asked for a divorce.

   Andrew Gudmund (from whom I am the seventh in descent) had an affair of the same kind. He also refused to have the child baptised[.]

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 251

   "Mean to say you been havin' an affair with Mrs. Peabody?"

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 82

   The emotions involved in affairs can seem like a rollercoaster ride – one moment sublime and exciting, the next full of guilt and confusion. Some people seem to enjoy the drama of these sorts of encounter, relishing the highs and lows. But for most people the experience of an affair can be difficult to manage - even if the affair eventually leads to a committed relationship.

   2001, Julia Cole, After the Affair, →ISBN, page 123

6. An otherwise illicit romantic relationship, such as with someone who is not one's regular partner (boyfriend, girlfriend).

   Jerry's girlfriend said she wanted to go steady, but she was in an affair with one of his team-mates.

7. A person with whom someone has an adulterous relationship.

   Turns out she's married; he was her affair.

   2010 June 20, Pamela Paul, “Today's women can have it all -- including a midlife crisis”, in The Washington Post

   3 more examples

   I was his affair and he was a little boy toy to me... Together it was our little scandal.

   2010, “Scandal”, in ABC

   Even though my husband forgave me and gave me another chance, I still continue to see my affair.

   2012 February 3, “I Am Having An Affair With My Best Friend”, in The Experience Project

   She was my affair, but for me she was everything.

   2014, “Will it be Love or Will it be Fate that Win?”, in Princess Kaurvaki

8. A party or social gathering, especially of a formal nature.

   1 more example

   She also guessed that Lady Gladstone had not told them the affair had been planned some time ago. “We are looking forward to visiting you on Friday, Lady Gladstone,” said Harriet. “Geoffrey thought I might have forgotten because you sent us your invitation such ages ago, but I said, 'My dear brother, how could I possibly forget an invitation from Lady Gladstone?'“ “How very odd,” commented the comte lazily. “Lady Gladstone was just telling us it was an impromptu affair.”

   2014, M.C. Beaton, The French Affair, →ISBN

9. archaicslangThe (male or female) genitals.

   1 more example

   ... ſhe, with the greateſt effrontery imaginable, unbuttons his breeches, and removing his ſhirt, draws out his affair, ſo ſhrunk and diminiſh’d that I could not but remember the difference, now creſt-fallen, or just faintly lifting its head: but our experinc’d matron very ſoon, by chafing it with her hands, brought it to ſwell to that ſize and erection I had before ſeen it up to.

   1749, John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, page 69