chain

Meaning

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

1. To fasten something with a chain.
2. To connect as if with a chain, due to dependence, addiction, or other feelings
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. To obligate.
7. To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
8. To be chained to another data item.
9. To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
10. To load and automatically run (a program).

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈt͡ʃeɪn/

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.