Signification

• Noun

  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. A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.
  5. A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.
  6. 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.
  8. A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
  9. 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. An element of a group (or module) in a chain complex.
  11. 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.
  13. 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.
  15. The warp threads of a web.

• Verb