chain
See also: Chain
English
Etymology
From Middle English cheyne, chaine, from Old French chaine, chaene (“chain”), from Latin catēna (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Doublet of catena.
Pronunciation
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.
- a chain of mountains
- a chain of ideas, one leading to the next
- 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.
- (chemistry) 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, 4 rods, or 100 links.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter X, p. 177, [1]
- "But it's too far—must be a quarter of a mile—and I've a portmanteau to carry." […]
- "Garn!" shouted the guard. "Taint ten chain. […] "
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter X, p. 177, [1]
- (mathematics, set theory, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
- 2003, Jeremy P. Spinrad, Efficient Graph Representations, American Mathematical Society, page 108,
- We first find an approximation of the chain partition, i.e. a small but not minimum size set of chains which cover all elements of the poset.
- 2003, Jeremy P. Spinrad, Efficient Graph Representations, American Mathematical Society, page 108,
- (British) 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).
- That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.
- the chains of habit
- (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Driven down / To chains of darkness and the undying worm.
- (nautical, in the plural) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
- (weaving) The warp threads of a web.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
Synonyms
- (series of interconnected rings or links): rackle
- (series of interconnected things): See also Thesaurus:sequence
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
- ball and chain
- catena
- chain drive
- chain ferry
- chain gang
- chain gun
- chain letter
- chain lightning
- chainlink fence
- chain mail
- chain of command
- chain of custody
- chain of events
- chain of production
- chain of thought
- chain of title
- chain pickerel
- chain pump
- chain reaction
- chain rule
- chain saw
- chain shot
- chain stitch
- chain store
- chain story
- off the chain
- pull someone's chain
- yank someone's chain
Translations
series of interconnected rings or links
|
series of interconnected things
|
that which confines, fetters
|
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 subset
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
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.
- (figurative) To obligate.
- 2017 August 13, Brandon Nowalk, “Oldtown offers one last game-changing secret as Game Of Thrones goes behind enemy lines (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club[2]:
- I miss when Game Of Thrones was wide open, but even then, the writers were chained to a narrative they didn’t yet know the ending of and feared straying too far from.
- (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)
Derived terms
Translations
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
- “chain”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “chain”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- OED 2nd edition 1989
Further reading
- Category:chain on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Anagrams
Welsh
Pronunciation
Adjective
chain
- Aspirate mutation of cain.
Mutation
Welsh mutation | |||
---|---|---|---|
radical | soft | nasal | aspirate |
cain | gain | nghain | chain |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English doublets
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪn
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Chemistry
- en:Surveying
- en:Mathematics
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- British English
- Requests for date/John Milton
- en:Nautical
- en:Weaving
- Requests for quotations/Knight
- English verbs
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- English terms with quotations
- en:Computing
- English terms with rare senses
- en:Units of measure
- Welsh terms with IPA pronunciation
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