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. (physical) 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, which is 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. (broadly) 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.
13. (in-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.
15. The warp threads of a web.

Verb

1. (transitive) To fasten something with a chain.
2. (figuratively) 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. (figuratively) To obligate.
7. To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
8. To be chained to another data item.
9. (transitive) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
10. (rare, transitive) To load and automatically run (a program).

Synonyms

fetter

shackle

series

string

🪢

sequence

necklace

fasten

row

bind

cable

tie

rope

🪢

range

manacle

chain of mountains

wire

put in chains

succession

mountain range

handcuff

range of mountains

restrain

bond

chain up

chains

⛓️

tether

catena

concatenation

link

🔗

line

connection

confine

concatenate

beads

train

🚋

shackles

strand

trammel

chemical chain

hobble

hitch

file

fetters

shack

enchain

mountain chain

chaining

linkage

cord

ch

Translations

chaîne

Kette

catena

cadena

cadeia

αλυσίδα

cadena

ketting

keten

corrente

zincir

catena

αλυσοδένω

cadena

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈt͡ʃeɪn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: cheyne

In summary

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. Displaced native Middle English rakil and rakent (from Old English racente (“chain”)); see rackan.