Definition of "chain"

chain

/ˈt͡ʃeɪn/

noun
plural chains
1. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.
2. A series of interconnected things.
3. A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.
4. (chemistry) A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.
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, exactly equal to 22 yards, 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.
  Quotations
  "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, chapter X, in Capricornia‎, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 177
8. (mathematics, set theory, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
  Quotations
  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
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.
  Quotations
  Driven down / To chains of darkness and the undying worm.
  1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
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. A livery collar, a chain of office.
  Quotations
  And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwordsAnd either lanch his greedie thirſting throat,Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerueFor Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
13. (weaving) The warp threads of a web.
verb
third-person singular simple present chains, present participle chaining, simple past and past participle chained
1. (transitive) To fasten something with a chain.
2. (figurative) To connect as if with a chain, due to dependence, addiction, or other feelings
3. (intransitive) To link multiple items together.
4. (transitive) To secure someone with fetters.
5. (transitive) To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.
6. (figurative) To obligate.
  Quotations
  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.
  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
7. (computing) To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
8. (computing) To be chained to another data item.
  Quotations
  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).
  2016 January 15, Mark Papadakis, “Coroutines and Fibers. Why and When”, in Medium‎
9. (transitive) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
  Quotations
  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.
  1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 99
10. (transitive, computing, rare, associated with Acorn Computers) To load and automatically run (a program).
  Quotations
  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?
  1996, Mr D Walsh, “Running two programs from a batch file”, in comp.sys.acorn.misc (Usenet)
  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!)
  1998, Juan Flynn, “BBC software transmitted on TV - how to load?”, in comp.sys.acorn.misc (Usenet)
  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.
  2006, Richard Porter, “SpamStamp double headers”, in comp.sys.acorn.apps (Usenet)

Definition of "chain"

chain

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