• (British) IPA: /ɹɪˈpɛə/
• (America) IPA: /ɹɪˈpɛɚ/, /ɹəˈpɛɚ/

repair (repairs, present participle repairing; past and past participle repaired)

1. To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy.

   to repair a house, a road, a shoe, or a ship

   to repair a shattered fortune

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: Printed by J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398 ↗, page 44 ↗:

     Secret refreſhings, that repair his ſtrength,

   • 1807, William Wordsworth, “To the Daisy”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], OCLC 262842809 ↗, page 96 ↗:

     Do thou, as thou art wont, repair / My heart with gladness,

2. To make amends for, as for an injury, by an equivalent; to indemnify for.

   to repair a loss or damage

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:

     I'll repair the misery thou dost bear.

• See also Thesaurus:repair

• French: réparer
• German: reparieren
• Italian: riparare
• Portuguese: reparar
• Russian: ремонти́ровать
• Spanish: reparar

repair

1. The act of repairing something.

   I took the car to the workshop for repair.

2. The result of repairing something.

   If you look closely you can see the repair in the paintwork.

3. The condition of something, in respect of need for repair.

   The car was overall in poor repair before the accident. But after the workshop had it for three weeks it was returned in excellent repair. But the other vehicle was beyond repair.

• reparation
• reparative

• French: réparation
• German: Reparatur
• Portuguese: reparo, conserto, reparação
• Russian: ремо́нт
• Spanish: reparación

• French: réparation
• German: Ausbesserung, Instandsetzung
• Portuguese: reparo
• Spanish: reparación

repair (plural repairs)

1. The act of repairing or resorting to a place.

   our annual repair to the mountains

   • The king sent a proclamation for their repair to their houses.

2. A place to which one goes frequently or habitually; a haunt.

   • There the fierce winds his tender force assail / And beat him downward to his first repair.

repair (repairs, present participle repairing; past and past participle repaired)

1. To transfer oneself to another place.

   to repair to sanctuary for safety

   • 1703, Alexander Pope, transl., “The Thebais of Statius”, in The Works of Alexander Pope, London: H. Lintont et al., published 1751:

     Go, mount the winds, and to the shades repair.

   • 1847 October 15, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter IV, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. [...] In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], OCLC 3163777 ↗, page 109 ↗:

     At a late hour, after I had been in bed some time, I heard the visitors repair to their chambers:

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 731476803 ↗, page 47 ↗:

     That finished, I repaired to my room, one flight up, and, after a thorough wash, seated myself, pipe in mouth, at the little window that opened on the Rue Garde.

• German: begeben

repair (repairs, present participle repairing; past and past participle repaired)

1. to pair again