chain

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English[edit]

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A metal chain
A chain of daisies
Molecular chain for acrylic

Etymology[edit]

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”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

chain (plural chains)

  1. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.
    He wore a gold chain around the neck.
  2. A series of interconnected things.
    This led to an unfortunate chain of events.
  3. A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.
    That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town.
  4. A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.
    When examined, the molecular chain included oxygen and hydrogen.
  5. (surveying) A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.
  6. (surveying) A long measuring tape.
  7. A unit of length equal to 22 yards. The length of a Gunter's surveying chain. The length of a cricket pitch. Equal to 20.12 metres. Equal to 4 rods. Equal to 100 links.
  8. (mathematics, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
  9. (UK) A sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase (said to be "broken" if a buyer or seller pulls out).

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

series of interconnected rings or links
series of interconnected things
series of stores or businesses with the same brand name
number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule
surveying: series of interconnected links as a measuring device
surveying: long measuring tape
unit of length
sequence of linked house purchases
totally ordered set
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

chain (third-person singular simple present chains, present participle chaining, simple past and past participle chained)

  1. (transitive) To fasten something with a chain.
  2. (intransitive) To link multiple items together.
  3. (transitive) To secure someone with fetters.
  4. (transitive) To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.
  5. (computing) To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
  6. (computing) To be chained to another data item.
  7. (transitive) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
  8. (transitive, computing, rare, associated with Acorn Computers) To load and automatically run (a program).
    • 1996, "Mr D Walsh", Running two programs from a batch file (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.misc)
      How do you get one program to chain another? I want to run DrawWorks2 then !Draw but as soon as you run Drawworks2 it finishes the batch file and doesn't go on to the next instruction! Is there a way without loading one of these automatic loaders?
    • 1998, "Juan Flynn", BBC software transmitted on TV - how to load? (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.misc)
      You can do LOAD "" or CHAIN "" to load or chain the next program if I remember correctly (it's been a loooong time since I've used a tape on an Acorn!)
    • 2006, "Richard Porter", SpamStamp double headers (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.apps)
      Recent versions of AntiSpam no longer use the Config file but have a Settings file instead, so when I updated the Config file to chain SpamStamp it had no effect as it was a redundant file.

Translations[edit]

to fasten with a chain
to link together
to secure someone with fetters
to obstruct with a chain
computing: to relate data items with a chain of pointers
to be chained to another data item
to measure a distance using a chain

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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