Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the female breasts.

1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) IV 758: I had a feel round her buttocks. My God, what spankers! and her breasts, what a pair!
1922		Joyce Ulysses 225: She has a fine pair, God bless her. Like that He held his caved hands a cubit from him, frowning.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 106: Everyone with a few bucks had a dame. [...] Not one of em had a pair half as big as hers.
1968		(con. 1940s) G. Dutton Andy 221: Boy, could I use a lay. The black Marys up north swing a lovely pair.
1977		T. Berger Who is Teddy Villanova? 234: Got some pair, that cooze.
1998		‘Bill E. Goodhead’ Nubile Treat 🌐 He dug big tits, and his sister had a really fine pair, big and round.
2000		Guardian Editor 10 Mar. 9: She’s got a huge pair. Wonderful.

2. (US) the testicles; usu. in phr. have a pair v., to be macho, manly or imper. grow a pair!

1696		Motteux (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) II Bk IV 410: We would kiss his bare arse without boggling at it, and eke his two pounders; for he has a pair of them, the holy father, that he has.
1977		(con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 59: If you wanted someone to know you’d gone insane you really had to sound off like you had a pair.
1990		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Phantom Blooper 18: You better sound off like you got a pair, sweetheart, or I will personally unscrew your head and shit in your shoulders!
2007		W. Ellis Crooked Little Vein 156: I think I liked you better before you started acting like you grew a pair.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] Buck up and ship out and grow a goddamned pair.
2016		Twitter 20 Nov. 🌐 Americans have right to protest, jeer, boo or even support a man who doesn't respect/know Bill of Rights. You won. Grow a pair and shut up.
2018		G. Gilmore Base Nature [ebook] He just needed to grow a pair [...] and start acting like a man again.
2023		X 29 Nov. 🌐 Having a sturdy pair may help at times [...] but empathy, integrity, kindness are the stuff of what makes strong leaders .
2024		N. Cohen Writing from London 22 Feb. 🌐 You might want to say that MPs should butch-up and grow a pair, but be careful what you wish for.