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17 dictionary results for: Chain
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
chain       [cheyn] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a series of objects connected one after the other, usually in the form of a series of metal rings passing through one another, used either for various purposes requiring a flexible tie with high tensile strength, as for hauling, supporting, or confining, or in various ornamental and decorative forms.
2.Often, chains. something that binds or restrains; bond: the chain of timidity; the chains of loyalty.
3.chains,
a.shackles or fetters: to place a prisoner in chains.
b.bondage; servitude: to live one's life in chains.
c.Nautical. (in a sailing vessel) the area outboard at the foot of the shrouds of a mast: the customary position of the leadsman in taking soundings.
d.tire chain.
4.a series of things connected or following in succession: a chain of events.
5.a range of mountains.
6.a number of similar establishments, as banks, theaters, or hotels, under one ownership or management.
7.Chemistry. two or more atoms of the same element, usually carbon, attached as in a chain. Compare ring1 (def. 17).
8.Surveying, Civil Engineering.
a.a distance-measuring device consisting of a chain of 100 links of equal length, having a total length either of 66 ft. (20 m) (Gunter's chain or surveyor's chain) or of 100 ft. (30 m) (engineer's chain).
b.a unit of length equal to either of these.
c.a graduated steel tape used for distance measurements. Abbreviation: ch
9.Mathematics. totally ordered set.
10.Football. a chain 10 yd. (9 m) in length for determining whether a first down has been earned.
–verb (used with object)
11.to fasten or secure with a chain: to chain a dog to a post.
12.to confine or restrain: His work chained him to his desk.
13.Surveying. to measure (a distance on the ground) with a chain or tape.
14.Computers. to link (related items, as records in a file or portions of a program) together, esp. so that items can be run in sequence.
15.to make (a chain stitch or series of chain stitches), as in crocheting.
–verb (used without object)
16.to form or make a chain.
—Idioms
17.drag the chain, Australian Slang. to lag behind or shirk one's fair share of work.
18.in the chains, Nautical. standing outboard on the channels or in some similar place to heave the lead to take soundings.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME chayne < OF chaeine < L caténa fetter; see catena]

—Related forms
chainless, adjective
chainlike, adjective

—Synonyms 4. sequence, succession, train, set.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
Chain       [cheyn] Pronunciation Key
–noun
Sir Ernst Boris       [urnst, ernst] Pronunciation Key, 1906–79, English biochemist, born in Germany: Nobel prize for medicine 1945.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chain       (chān)  Pronunciation Key 


(click for larger image in new window)

n.  
    1. A connected, flexible series of links, typically of metal, used especially for holding objects together or restraining or for transmitting mechanical power.
    2. Such a set of links, often of precious metal and with pendants attached, worn as an ornament or symbol of office.
    3. Bonds, fetters, or shackles.
    4. Captivity or oppression; bondage: threw off the chains of slavery.
    5. An instrument used in surveying, consisting of 100 linked pieces of iron or steel and measuring 66 feet (20.1 meters). Also called Gunter's chain.
    6. A similar instrument used in engineering, measuring 100 feet (30.5 meters).
    7. Abbr. ch A unit of measurement equal to the length of either of these instruments.
  2. A restraining or confining agent or force.
  3. chains
    1. Bonds, fetters, or shackles.
    2. Captivity or oppression; bondage: threw off the chains of slavery.
    3. An instrument used in surveying, consisting of 100 linked pieces of iron or steel and measuring 66 feet (20.1 meters). Also called Gunter's chain.
    4. A similar instrument used in engineering, measuring 100 feet (30.5 meters).
    5. Abbr. ch A unit of measurement equal to the length of either of these instruments.
  4. A series of closely linked or connected things: a chain of coincidences. See Synonyms at series.
  5. A number of establishments, such as stores, theaters, or hotels, under common ownership or management.
  6. A range of mountains.
  7. Chemistry A group of atoms bonded in a spatial configuration like links in a chain.
    1. An instrument used in surveying, consisting of 100 linked pieces of iron or steel and measuring 66 feet (20.1 meters). Also called Gunter's chain.
    2. A similar instrument used in engineering, measuring 100 feet (30.5 meters).
    3. Abbr. ch A unit of measurement equal to the length of either of these instruments.

tr.v.   chained, chain·ing, chains
  1. To bind or make fast with a chain or chains: chained the dog to a tree.
  2. To restrain or confine as if with chains: workers who were chained to a life of dull routine.


[Middle English chaine, from Old French, from Latin catēna.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Chain       (chān)  Pronunciation Key 
German-born British biochemist. He isolated and purified penicillin; for this achievement he shared a 1945 Nobel Prize with Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin in 1928.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chain 
c.1300, from O.Fr. chaeine, from L. catena "chain," from PIE base *kat- "to twist, twine." The verb is attested from 1377. chain of stores is Amer.Eng., 1846. Chain letter first recorded 1906.
"In 1896, Miss Audrey Griffin, of Hurstville, New South Wales initiated a 'chain letter' with the object of obtaining 1,000,000 used postage stamps." ["Daily Chronicle," July 27, 1906]

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
chain

noun
1. a series of things depending on each other as if linked together; "the chain of command"; "a complicated concatenation of circumstances" 
2. (chemistry) a series of linked atoms (generally in an organic molecule) 
3. a series of (usually metal) rings or links fitted into one another to make a flexible ligament 
4. (business) a number of similar establishments (stores or restaurants or banks or hotels or theaters) under one ownership 
5. anything that acts as a restraint 
6. a unit of length 
7. British biochemist (born in Germany) who isolated and purified penicillin, which had been discovered in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming (1906-1979) 
8. a series of hills or mountains; "the valley was between two ranges of hills"; "the plains lay just beyond the mountain range" [syn: range] 
9. a linked or connected series of objects; "a chain of daisies" 
10. a necklace made by a stringing objects together; "a string of beads"; "a strand of pearls"; 

verb
1. connect or arrange into a chain by linking 
2. fasten or secure with chains; "Chain the chairs together" [ant: unchain] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

chain

In addition to the idioms beginning with chain, also see ball and chain; pull someone's chain.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chain       (chān)  Pronunciation Key 
A group of atoms, often of the same element, bound together in a line, branched line, or ring to form a molecule. In a straight chain, each of the constituent atoms is attached to other single atoms, not to groups of atoms. In a branched chain, side groups are attached to the chain. In a closed chain, the atoms are arranged in the shape of a ring.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Chain, Sir Ernst Boris 1906-1979.  
German-born British bacteriologist who, with Howard Florey, developed and purified penicillin in 1939. For this work, they shared a 1945 Nobel Prize with Alexander Fleming, who first discovered the antibiotic in 1928.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

chain (chān)
n.

  1. A group of atoms covalently bonded in a spatial configuration like links in a chain.
  2. A linear arrangement of living things such as cells or bacteria.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chain (chān), Ernst Boris. 1906-1979.

German-born British biochemist. He shared a 1945 Nobel Prize for isolating and purifying penicillin, discovered in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

chain
1. (From BASIC's "CHAIN" statement) To pass control to a child or successor without going through the operating system command interpreter that invoked you. The state of the parent program is lost and there is no returning to it. Though this facility used to be common on memory-limited microcomputers and is still widely supported for backward compatibility, the jargon usage is semi-obsolescent; in particular, Unix calls this exec.
Compare with the more modern "subshell".
2. A series of linked data areas within an operating system or application program. "Chain rattling" is the process of repeatedly running through the linked data areas searching for one which is of interest. The implication is that there are many links in the chain.
3. A possibly infinite, non-decreasing sequence of elements of some total ordering, S
x0 <= x1 <= x2 ...
A chain satisfies:
for all x,y in S, x <= y \/ y <= x.
I.e. any two elements of a chain are related.
("<=" is written in LaTeX as sqsubseteq).
[The Jargon File]
(1995-02-03)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

chain


1. vi. [orig. from BASIC's `CHAIN' statement] To hand off execution to a child or successor without going through the OS command interpreter that invoked it. The state of the parent program is lost and there is no returning to it. Though this facility used to be common on memory-limited micros and is still widely supported for backward compatibility, the jargon usage is semi-obsolescent; in particular, most Unix programmers will think of this as an exec. Oppose the more modern `subshell'.
2. n. A series of linked data areas within an operating system or application. `Chain rattling' is the process of repeatedly running through the linked data areas searching for one which is of interest to the executing program. The implication is that there is a very large number of links on the chain.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Chain-O-Lakes, MO (village, FIPS 13000) Location: 36.53331 N, 93.72478 W
Population (1990): 111 (66 housing units)
Area: 0.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

Chain O' Lakes-King, WI (CDP, FIPS 13885) Location: 44.33080 N, 89.16780 W
Population (1990): 1667 (1071 housing units)
Area: 10.9 sq km (land), 3.2 sq km (water)

Grand Chain, IL Zip code(s): 62941

New Grand Chain, IL (village, FIPS 52467) Location: 37.25317 N, 89.01714 W
Population (1990): 273 (116 housing units)
Area: 2.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chain

Chain\, n. [F. cha[^i]ne, fr. L. catena. Cf. Catenate.]

1. A series of links or rings, usually of metal, connected, or fitted into one another, used for various purposes, as of support, of restraint, of ornament, of the exertion and transmission of mechanical power, etc.

[They] put a chain of gold about his neck. --Dan. v. 29.

2. That which confines, fetters, or secures, as a chain; a bond; as, the chains of habit.

Driven down To chains of darkness and the undying worm. --Milton.

3. A series of things linked together; or a series of things connected and following each other in succession; as, a chain of mountains; a chain of events or ideas.

4. (Surv.) An instrument which consists of links and is used in measuring land.

Note: One commonly in use is Gunter's chain, which consists of one hundred links, each link being seven inches and ninety-two one hundredths in length; making up the total length of rods, or sixty-six, feet; hence, a measure of that length; hence, also, a unit for land measure equal to four rods square, or one tenth of an acre.

5. pl. (Naut.) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.

6. (Weaving) The warp threads of a web. --Knight.

Chain belt (Mach.), a belt made of a chain; -- used for transmitting power.

Chain boat, a boat fitted up for recovering lost cables, anchors, etc.

Chain bolt (a) (Naut.) The bolt at the lower end of the chain plate, which fastens it to the vessel's side. (b) A bolt with a chain attached for drawing it out of position.

Chain bond. See Chain timber.

Chain bridge, a bridge supported by chain cables; a suspension bridge.

Chain cable, a cable made of iron links.

Chain coral (Zo["o]l.), a fossil coral of the genus Halysites, common in the middle and upper Silurian rocks. The tubular corallites are united side by side in groups, looking in an end view like links of a chain. When perfect, the calicles show twelve septa.

Chain coupling. (a) A shackle for uniting lengths of chain, or connecting a chain with an object. (b) (Railroad) Supplementary coupling together of cars with a chain.

Chain gang, a gang of convicts chained together.

Chain hook (Naut.), a hook, used for dragging cables about the deck.

Chain mail, flexible, defensive armor of hammered metal links wrought into the form of a garment.

Chain molding (Arch.), a form of molding in imitation of a chain, used in the Normal style.

Chain pier, a pier suspended by chain.

Chain pipe (Naut.), an opening in the deck, lined with iron, through which the cable is passed into the lockers or tiers.

Chain plate (Shipbuilding), one of the iron plates or bands, on a vessel's side, to which the standing rigging is fastened.

Chain pulley, a pulley with depressions in the periphery of its wheel, or projections from it, made to fit the links of a chain.

Chain pumps. See in the Vocabulary.

Chain rule (Arith.), a theorem for solving numerical problems by composition of ratios, or compound proportion, by which, when several ratios of equality are given, the consequent of each being the same as the antecedent of the next, the relation between the first antecedent and the last consequent is discovered.

Chain shot (Mil.), two cannon balls united by a shot chain, formerly used in naval warfare on account of their destructive effect on a ship's rigging.

Chain stitch. See in the Vocabulary.

Chain timber. (Arch.) See Bond timber, under Bond.

Chain wales. (Naut.) Same as Channels.

Chain wheel. See in the Vocabulary.

Closed chain, Open chain (Chem.), terms applied to the chemical structure of compounds whose rational formul[ae] are written respectively in the form of a closed ring (see Benzene nucleus, under Benzene), or in an open extended form.

Endless chain, a chain whose ends have been united by a link.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Chain

Chain\, v. t. [imp. p. p. Chained (ch[=a]nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Chaining.]

1. To fasten, bind, or connect with a chain; to fasten or bind securely, as with a chain; as, to chain a bulldog.

Chained behind the hostile car. --Prior.

2. To keep in slavery; to enslave.

And which more blest? who chained his country, say Or he whose virtue sighed to lose a day? --Pope.

3. To unite closely and strongly.

And in this vow do chain my soul to thine. --Shak.

4. (Surveying) To measure with the chain.

5. To protect by drawing a chain across, as a harbor.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chain

(1.) A part of the insignia of office. A chain of gold was placed about Joseph's neck (Gen. 41:42); and one was promised to Daniel (5:7). It is used as a symbol of sovereignty (Ezek. 16:11). The breast-plate of the high-priest was fastened to the ephod by golden chains (Ex. 39:17, 21). (2.) It was used as an ornament (Prov. 1:9; Cant. 1:10). The Midianites adorned the necks of their camels with chains (Judg. 8:21, 26). (3.) Chains were also used as fetters wherewith prisoners were bound (Judg. 16:21; 2 Sam. 3:34; 2 Kings 25:7; Jer. 39:7). Paul was in this manner bound to a Roman soldier (Acts 28:20; Eph. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:16). Sometimes, for the sake of greater security, the prisoner was attached by two chains to two soldiers, as in the case of Peter (Acts 12:6).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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