chain

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃeɪn/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -eɪn

Noun

chain (plural chains)

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 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. (organic chemistry, physical 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, 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.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter X, in Capricornia‎, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 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, 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.

9. (algebraic topology, originally) 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).
10. (algebraic topology, homological algebra, more generally) An element of a group (or module) in a chain complex.
11. (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).
12. That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.

    the chains of habit

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

      Driven down / To chains of darkness and the undying worm.

13. (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.
14. A livery collar, a chain of office.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

      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.

15. (weaving) The warp threads of a web.^[1]

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.

   You should chain your bicycle to the railings to protect it from being stolen.

2. (figurative) To 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. (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.
   • 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:

     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. (computing) To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
8. (computing) To be chained to another data item.
   • 2016 January 15, Mark Papadakis, “Coroutines and Fibers. Why and When”, in Medium‎:

     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. (transitive) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 99:

     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. (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”, in comp.sys.acorn.misc (Usenet):

      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?”, 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!)

    • 2006, Richard Porter, “SpamStamp double headers”, in comp.sys.acorn.apps (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.

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:chains on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• China, hican, Chi-an, Chian, Anich, Achin, china

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /χai̯n/

Adjective

chain

1. Aspirate mutation of cain.

Mutation