chain

nounverbcommon in dialogue

//ˈt͡ʃeɪn//

A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

noun

1
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.
He wore a gold chain around the neck.
The anchor is connected to the boat with a 100-metre long chain.
2
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. An accessory, adornment or insignia comprising, containing or depicting a series of links.
wallet chain
3
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A livery collar, a chain of office.
And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords And either lanch his greedie thirſting throat, Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerue For Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home.
4
figurativeA series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.
the chains of habit
Driven down / To chains of darkness and the undying worm.
5
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A snow chain.
He put chains on my tires.
6
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A bicycle chain.
My bike needs a chain.
7
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A pair of sticks connected by a ten yard chain, used to measure a down in American football.
8
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A watchchain.
His watch's chain was gold-plated.
9
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A keychain.
Get the key off my chain.
10
slangA series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A necklace of chain jewelry, usually gold.
They knocked him out and snatched his chain.
11
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A door chain.
I couldn't open the door because it was on its chain.
12
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.
13
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A long measuring tape.
14
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A unit of length, exactly equal to 22 yards, which is 4 rods or 100 links, and approximately equal to 20.12 metres; the length of a Gunter's surveying chain; the length of a cricket pitch.
"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. […]"
15
A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
16
figurativeA series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A lightning bolt.
I saw a brilliant chain of lightning across the sky.
17
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.
18
A series of interconnected things. An unbroken streak.
We have to maintain chain of custody.
You mustn't break the chain of this chain letter.
19
A series of interconnected things. A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name; a series of such stores as opposed to a small, independent shop.
That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town.
I love that place because it's not a chain.
20
A series of interconnected things. A chain of command.
Send it up the chain, so head office will have to deal with it.
21
figurativeA series of interconnected things. The sequence of processes and transactions that result in a product or commodity being available.
cold chain, kill chain, supply chain, value chain
In public disclosures and press releases, the corporations perched atop the cobalt chain typically cite their commitments to international human rights norms, zero-tolerance policies on child labor, and adherence to the highest standards of supply chain due diligence.
22
A series of interconnected things. The warp threads of a web.
23
A series of interconnected things. 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).
24
A series of interconnected things. A blockchain.
25
A series of interconnected things. A kinetic chain.
26
A series of interconnected things. A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.
side chain
When examined, the molecular chain included oxygen and hydrogen.
27
A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
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.
28
A formal sum of cells in a CW complex of a certain dimension k (in which case the formal sums are called k'''-chains); a formal sum of simplices or cubes of a certain dimension in a simplical complex or cubical complex (respectively).
29
An element of a group (or module) in a chain complex.

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. Displaced native Middle English rakil and rakent (from Old English racente (“chain”)); see rackan.

verb

1
To fasten something with a chain.
You should chain your bicycle to the railings to protect it from being stolen.
2
figurativeTo connect as if with a chain, due to dependence, addiction, or other feelings
Sometimes I feel like I'm chained to this computer.
She's been chained to her principles since she was 18, it's unlikely you can convince her otherwise.
3
To link multiple items together.
4
To secure someone with fetters.
5
To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.
6
figurativeTo obligate.
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.
7
To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
8
To be chained to another data item.
You don’t need to maintain state, or partition execution into different objects that then you can chain together (one executes the other on completion — chained continuations).
9
To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
As the line was surveyed - a sufficient length being first chained by a surveyor, who was followed by axemen - trees had to be felled and a certain width maintained, which was specified in the contract, for drays had to follow, and the trees might have fallen upon the line and broken it down at the very outset.
10
rareTo load and automatically run (a program).
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?
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!)
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.

Forms

plural: chains
past tense: chained
past participle: chained
present participle: chaining
third person singular: chains

Chad · A male given name from Old English; also a modern nickname…chai · A female Romani.Chai · A surname.

chain · A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

Chain · A surname.chained · Bound with chains.chainsaw · A power saw that has a power-driven and fast-revolving chain…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.