chain
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Old French chaeine (French: chaîne), from Latin catena.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
chain (plural chains)
- A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.
- He wore a gold chain around the neck.
- A series of interconnected things.
- This led to an unfortunate chain of events.
- A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.
- That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town.
- A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.
- When examined, the molecular chain included oxygen and hydrogen.
- (surveying) A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.
- (surveying) A long measuring tape.
- 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.
- (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).
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
series of interconnected rings or links
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series of interconnected things
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series of stores or businesses with the same brand name
number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule
surveying: long measuring tape
unit of length
- 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
[edit] Verb
chain (third-person singular simple present chains, present participle chaining, simple past and past participle chained)
- (transitive) To fasten something with a chain
- (intransitive) To link multiple items together
- (transitive) To secure someone with fetters
- (transitive) To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain
- (computing) To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
- (computing) To be chained to another data item.
- (transitive) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
- (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.
- 1996, "Mr D Walsh", Running two programs from a batch file (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.misc)
[edit] Translations
to fasten with a chain
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to link together
to measure a distance using a chain
[edit] References
- chain in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- chain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- OED 2nd edition 1989
[edit] External links
Chain on Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons
