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Webster 1913 Edition

Chain

Chain

(chān)
,
Noun.
[F.
chaîne
, fr. L.
catena
. Cf.
Catenate
.]
1.
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.
[They] put a
chain
of gold about his neck.
Dan. v. 29.
2.
That which confines, fetters, or secures, as a chain; a bond;
as, the
chains
of habit
.
Driven down
To
chains
of darkness and the undying worm.
Milton.
3.
A series of things linked together; or a series of things connected and following each other in succession;
as, a
chain
of mountains; a
chain
of events or ideas
.
4.
(Surv.)
An instrument which consists of links and is used in measuring land.
☞ One commonly in use is Gunter’s chain, which consists of one hundred links, each link being seven inches and ninety-two one hundredths in length; making up the total length of rods, or sixty-six, feet; hence, a measure of that length; hence, also, a unit for land measure equal to four rods square, or one tenth of an acre.
5.
pl.
(Naut.)
Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
6.
(Weaving)
The warp threads of a web.
Knight.
Chain belt
(Mach.)
,
a belt made of a chain; – used for transmitting power.
–
Chain boat
,
a boat fitted up for recovering lost cables, anchors, etc.
–
Chain bolt
(a)
(Naut.)
The bolt at the lower end of the chain plate, which fastens it to the vessel's side.
(b)
A bolt with a chain attached for drawing it out of position.
–
Chain bond
.
See
Chain timber
.
–
Chain bridge
,
a bridge supported by chain cables; a suspension bridge.
–
Chain cable
,
a cable made of iron links.
–
Chain coral
(Zool.)
,
a fossil coral of the genus
Halysites
, common in the middle and upper Silurian rocks. The tubular corallites are united side by side in groups, looking in an end view like links of a chain. When perfect, the calicles show twelve septa.
–
Chain coupling
.
(a)
A shackle for uniting lengths of chain, or connecting a chain with an object.
(b)
(Railroad)
Supplementary coupling together of cars with a chain.
–
Chain gang
,
a gang of convicts chained together.
–
Chain hook
(Naut.)
,
a hook, used for dragging cables about the deck.
–
Chain mail
,
flexible, defensive armor of hammered metal links wrought into the form of a garment.
–
Chain molding
(Arch.)
,
a form of molding in imitation of a chain, used in the Normal style.
–
Chain pier
,
a pier suspended by chain.
–
Chain pipe
(Naut.)
,
an opening in the deck, lined with iron, through which the cable is passed into the lockers or tiers.
–
Chain plate
(Shipbuilding)
,
one of the iron plates or bands, on a vessel's side, to which the standing rigging is fastened.
–
Chain pulley
,
a pulley with depressions in the periphery of its wheel, or projections from it, made to fit the links of a chain.
–
Chain pumps
.
See in the Vocabulary.
–
Chain rule
(Arith.)
,
a theorem for solving numerical problems by composition of ratios, or compound proportion, by which, when several ratios of equality are given, the consequent of each being the same as the antecedent of the next, the relation between the first antecedent and the last consequent is discovered.
–
Chain shot
(Mil.)
,
two cannon balls united by a shot chain, formerly used in naval warfare on account of their destructive effect on a ship's rigging.
–
Chain stitch
.
See in the Vocabulary.
–
Chain timber
.
(Arch.)
See
Bond timber
, under
Bond
.
–
Chain wales
.
(Naut.)
Same as
Channels
.
–
Chain wheel
.
See in the Vocabulary.
–
Closed chain
,
Open chain
(Chem.)
,
terms applied to the chemical structure of compounds whose rational formulæ are written respectively in the form of a closed ring (see
Benzene nucleus
, under
Benzene
), or in an open extended form.
–
Endless chain
,
a chain whose ends have been united by a link.

Chain

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. p. p.
Chained
(chānd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Chaining
.]
1.
To fasten, bind, or connect with a chain; to fasten or bind securely, as with a chain;
as,
to chain
a bulldog
.
Chained
behind the hostile car.
Prior.
2.
To keep in slavery; to enslave.
And which more blest? who
chained
his country, say
Or he whose virtue sighed to lose a day?
Pope.
3.
To unite closely and strongly.
And in this vow do
chain
my soul to thine.
Shakespeare
4.
(Surveying)
To measure with the chain.
5.
To protect by drawing a chain across, as a harbor.

Webster 1828 Edition

Chain

CHAIN

, n.
1.
A series of links or rings connected, or fitted into one another, usually made of some kind of metal, as a chain of gold, or of iron; but the word is not restricted to any particular kind of material. It is used often for an ornament about the person.
2.
That which binds; a real chain; that which restrains, confines, or fetters; a bond.
If God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them into chains of darkness. 2 Peter 2.
3.
Bondage; affliction.
He hath made my chain heavy. Lam. 3.
4.
Bondage; slavery.
In despotism the people sleep soundly in their chains.
5.
Ornament. Prov. 1:9.
6.
A series of things linked together; a series of things connected or following in succession; as a chain of causes, of ideas, or events; a chain of being.
7.
A range, or line of things connected, as a chain of mountains.
8.
A series of links, forming an instrument to measure land.
9.
A string of twisted wire, or something similar, to hang a watch on, and for other purposes.
10.
In France, a measure of wood for fuel, and various commodities, of various length.
11.
In ship-building, chains are strong links or plates of iron, bolted at the lower end to the ships side, used to contain the blocks called dead eyes, by which the shrouds of the mast are extended.
12.
The warp in weaving, as in French.
Chain-;ump. This consists of a long chain, equipped with a sufficient number of valves, moving on two wheels, one above the other below, passing downward through a wooden tube and returning through another. It is managed by a long winch, on which several men may be employed at once.
Chain-shot, two balls connected by a chain, and used to cut down masts, or cut away shrouds and rigging.
Chain-wales of a ship, broad and thick planks projecting from a ships side, abreast of and behind the masts, for the purpose of extending the shrouds, for better supporting the masts, and preventing the shrouds from damaging the gunwale.
Chain-work, work consisting of threads, cords and the like, linked together in the form of a chain; as lineal chaining or tambour work, reticulation or net work, &c.
Top-chain, on board a ship, a chain to sling the sail-yards in time of battle, to prevent their falling, when the ropes that support them are shot away.

CHAIN

, v.t.
1.
To fasten, bind or connect with a chain; to fasten or bind with any thing in the manner of a chain.
2.
To enslave; to keep in slavery.
And which more blest? Who chaind his country, say
Or he whose virtue sighed to lose a day?
3.
To guard with a chain, as a harbor or passage.
4.
To unite; to form chain-work.

Definition 2024

chain

chain

English

A metal chain
A chain of daisies
Molecular chain for acrylic

Noun

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.
    a chain of mountains
    a chain of ideas, one leading to the next
    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. (chemistry) 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, 4 rods, or 100 links.
    • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter X, p. 177,
      "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. […] "
  8. (mathematics, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
  9. (Britain) 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).
  10. That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.
    the chains of habit
    • Milton
      Driven down / To chains of darkness and the undying worm.
  11. (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.
  12. (weaving) The warp threads of a web.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

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

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

Anagrams

Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /χai̯n/

Adjective

chain

  1. 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.

Etymology

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

  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃeɪn/
  • Rhymes: -eɪn

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