Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A connected, flexible series of links, typically of metal, used especially for holding objects together, for restraining, or for transmitting mechanical power.
  • noun Such a set of links, often of precious metal and with pendants attached, worn as an ornament or symbol of office.
  • noun Football Such a set of links measuring ten yards and attached to a pole at each end, moved up and down the field to indicate necessary yardage for gaining a first down.
  • noun A restraining or confining agent or force.
  • noun Bonds, fetters, or shackles.
  • noun Captivity or oppression; bondage.
  • noun A series of closely linked or connected things: synonym: series.
  • noun A number of establishments, such as stores, theaters, or hotels, under common ownership or management.
  • noun A range of mountains.
  • noun Chemistry A series of chemically bonded atoms, especially carbon atoms, which may be arranged in an open, branched, or cyclic structure.
  • noun An instrument used in surveying, consisting of 100 linked pieces of iron or steel and measuring 66 feet (20.1 meters).
  • noun A similar instrument used in engineering, measuring 100 feet (30.5 meters).
  • noun A unit of measurement equal to the length of either of these instruments.
  • transitive verb To bind or make fast with a chain or chains.
  • transitive verb To restrain or confine as if with chains.
  • idiom (pull/yank) To take unfair advantage of someone; deceive or manipulate someone.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To fasten, bind, restrain, or fetter with a chain or chains: as, to chain floating logs together; to chain a dog; to chain prisoners.
  • Figuratively
  • To unite firmly; link.
  • To hold by superior force, moral or physical; keep in bondage or slavery; enthrall; enslave.
  • To restrain; hold in check; control.
  • To block up or obstruct with a chain, as a passage or the entrance to a harbor.
  • noun A connected series of links of metal or other material, serving the purposes of a band, cord, rope, or cable in connecting, confining, restraining, supporting, drawing, transmitting mechanical power, etc., or for ornamental purposes.
  • noun Figuratively, that which binds, confines, restrains, fetters, or draws; specifically, in the plural, fetters; bonds; bondage; slavery: as, bound by the chains of evil habit.
  • noun In surveying, a measuring instrument, generally consisting of 100 links, each 7.92 inches (see Gunter's chain, below), or, as commonly in the United States, one foot, in length.
  • noun In weaving, the warp-threads of a web: so called because they form a long series of links or loops.
  • noun A series of things, material or immaterial, linked together; a series, line, or range of things connected or following in succession; a concatenation or coördinate sequence: as, a chain of causes, events, or arguments; a chain of evidence; a chain of mountains or of fortifications.
  • noun In chem., a group of atoms of the same kind assumed to be joined to one another by chemical force without the intervention of atoms of a different kind.
  • noun pl. Naut., strong bars or plates of iron bolted at the lower end to the ship's side, and at the upper end secured to the iron straps of the wooden blocks called deadeyes, by which the shrouds supporting the masts are extended. Formerly, instead of bars, chains were used; hence the name. Same as chain-plates.
  • noun Synonyms See shackle.
  • noun A ruff of recurved feathers adorning the neck of some breeds of pigeons, such as the jacobin.
  • noun An abbreviation of mountain-chain and volcanic chain.
  • noun A collection or continuum which has reference to a certain mode of correspondence such that no one individual or point corresponds to more than one individual or point, this mode of correspondence being thought of as a sort of mapping such that one part of the map may coincide with another, but no part of the collection or continuum mapped is represented twice over on the map.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To fasten, bind, or connect with a chain; to fasten or bind securely, as with a chain.
  • transitive verb To keep in slavery; to enslave.
  • transitive verb To unite closely and strongly.
  • transitive verb (Surveying) To measure with the chain.
  • transitive verb To protect by drawing a chain across, as a harbor.
  • noun A series of links or rings, usually of metal, connected, or fitted into one another, used for various purposes, as of support, of restraint, of ornament, of the exertion and transmission of mechanical power, etc.
  • noun That which confines, fetters, or secures, as a chain; a bond.
  • noun A series of things linked together; or a series of things connected and following each other in succession.
  • noun (Surv.) An instrument which consists of links and is used in measuring land.
  • noun (Naut.) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
  • noun (Weaving) The warp threads of a web.
  • noun (Mach.) a belt made of a chain; -- used for transmitting power.
  • noun a boat fitted up for recovering lost cables, anchors, etc.
  • noun (Naut.) A bolt with a chain attached for drawing it out of position.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English chaine, from Old French, from Latin catēna.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English chaine, from Old French chaine, chaene ("chain"; Modern French: chaîne), from Latin catēna ("chain"), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Cognate with North Frisian ketten ("chain"), Dutch keten ("chain"), Low German Kede ("chain"), German Kette ("chain"), Danish kæde ("chain"), Swedish kedja ("chain"), Icelandic keðja ("chain").

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Examples

  • These causes of war do not appear, however, to be of the nature of a _chain_, giving us the impression that in order to break the habit of war, all we need do is to discover the weakest link in the chain of causes, break the chain there, and so interrupt the whole mechanism of war-making in the world.

    The Psychology of Nations A Contribution to the Philosophy of History G.E. Partridge

  • The gneiss of the littoral chain* contains traces of the precious metals (* In the southern branch of this chain which passes by Yusma, Villa de Cura and Ocumare, particularly near Buria, Los Teques and Los Marietas.); and some grains of gold have been found in the mountains of Parima, near the mission of Encaramada.

    Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3 Alexander von Humboldt 1814

  • II. i.195 (251,4) [usurer's chain] I know not whether the _chain_ was, in our authour's time, the common ornament of wealthy citizens, or whether he satirically uses _usurer_ and _alderman_ as synonymous terms.

    Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746

  • The gangs belt the city like a huge chain from the Battery to Harlem—the collective name of the “chain gang” has been given to their scattered groups in the belief that a much closer connection exists between them than commonly supposed—and the ruffian for whom the East Side has became too hot, has only to step across town and change his name, a matter usually much easier for him than to change his shirt, to find a sanctuary in which to plot fresh outrages.

    XIX. The Harvest of Tares 1890

  • This ubiquitin chain is recognised in the opening of the proteasome.

    The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004 - Information for the Public 2004

  • I had long suspected that the effect would be non-asymptotic with the length of the chain; that is, that the perturbation of the configuration by the exclusion of one segment of the chain from the space occupied by another would increase without limit as the chain is lengthened.

    Paul J. Flory - Autobiography 1975

  • There are several online services, most used by the attorneys who clearly show the title chain and any property transfers having taken place in the available public record.

    EzineArticles 2010

  • In contrast the term chain looks much much more manly.

    Writings And Musings 2010

  • Historians use the term chain migration to describe the way past migration encourages present migration: migrants encourage and sponsor friends and relatives to join them.

    AvaxHome RSS: 2009

  • Historians use the term chain migration to describe the way past migration encourages present migration: migrants encourage and sponsor friends and relatives to join them.

    AvaxHome RSS: 2009

Comments

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  • Oh, what a useful word. :-)

    March 6, 2007

  • I love the fact that Chainlink is the first lister of it, followed by myself and chained_bear. My presence in that list was irrelevant to the "chain" theme, until you commented that it's useful, and I am uselessness. The circle is complete. Or, for a better metaphor, the chain. Unfortunately, reesetee, you are the weakest link, goodbye. :-)

    I wonder, should I be concerned about the apparent new Wordie list spam trend I'm seeing? Or just jump on the bandwagon? This kind of marketing isn't quite as obnoxious as most.

    March 6, 2007

  • Do you mean my rampant abuse of the new skill you taught me, u? Or the ubiquitous presence of reesetee and me on every blasted word page on this site? ;)

    March 6, 2007

  • Unit of length equal to 66 feet, used especially in the U.S. public land surveys. The original measuring instrument (Gunter's chain) was literally a chain consisting of 100 iron links, each 7.92 inches long. Steel-ribbon tapes began to supersede chains around 1900, but surveying tapes are often still called "chains" and measuring with a tape is often called "chaining." The chain is a convenient unit in cadastral surveys because 10 square chains equal 1 acre.

    November 11, 2007

  • Skipvia's is also the forester's definition.

    December 5, 2007

  • "11. A collection or continuum which has reference to a certain mode of correspondence such that no one individual or point corresponds to more than one individual or point, this mode of correspondence being thought of as a sort of mapping such that one part of the map may coincide with another, but no part of the collection or continuum mapped is represented twice over on the map. If the map is a part or the whole of what is mapped, that which is mapped is called a chain. Moreover, if P is any part of what is mapped, there may he many parts of the whole collection or continuum mapped, each of which contains P and is a chain. Now that chain which forms a part (or the whole) of every possible chain that contains P is called the chain of P. The term (German kette) was introduced by R. Dedekind, who restricted it to collections; but the idea had long before been derived by Gauss by generalizing the ordinary concept of a map. See mapping. It is evident that if to P be joined the representation of P on the map, and also the representation of that on the map and so on endlessly, the sum of all these will be the chain of P."

    --CD&C

    November 7, 2011

  • It is evident!

    November 8, 2011

  • having a strong chains between friends are really important.

    January 29, 2013