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cord

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cord

[kawrd]
–noun
1. a string or thin rope made of several strands braided, twisted, or woven together.
2. Electricity. a small, flexible, insulated cable.
3. a ribbed fabric, esp. corduroy.
4. a cordlike rib on the surface of cloth.
5. any influence that binds or restrains: cord of marriage.
6. Anatomy. a cordlike structure: the spinal cord; umbilical cord.
7. a unit of volume used chiefly for fuel wood, now generally equal to 128 cu. ft. (3.6 cu. m), usually specified as 8 ft. long, 4 ft. wide, and 4 ft. high (2.4 m × 1.2 m × 1.2 m). Abbreviation: cd, cd.
8. a hangman's rope.
–verb (used with object)
9. to bind or fasten with a cord or cords.
10. to pile or stack up (wood) in cords.
11. to furnish with a cord.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME coord(e) < AF, OF corde < L chorda < Gk chord gut; confused in part of its history with chord 1


corder, noun
cordlike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cord   (kôrd)   
n.  
  1. A slender length of flexible material usually made of twisted strands or fibers and used to bind, tie, connect, or support.

  2. An insulated flexible electric wire fitted with a plug or plugs.

  3. A hangman's rope.

  4. An influence, feeling, or force that binds or restrains; a bond or tie.

  5. also chord also (kōrd) Anatomy A long ropelike structure, such as a nerve or tendon: a spinal cord.

    1. A raised rib on the surface of cloth.

    2. A fabric or cloth with such ribs.

  6. cords Trousers made of corduroy.

  7. Abbr. cd. A unit of quantity for cut fuel wood, equal to a stack measuring 4 × 4 × 8 feet or 128 cubic feet (3.62 cubic meters).

tr.v.   cord·ed, cord·ing, cords
  1. To fasten or bind with a cord: corded the stack of old newspapers and placed them in the recycling bin.

  2. To furnish with a cord.

  3. To pile (wood) in cords.


[Middle English, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Greek khordē; see gherə- in Indo-European roots.]
cord'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

cord 
c.1300, from O.Fr. corde, from L. chorda "string, gut," from Gk. khorde "string, catgut, chord, cord," from PIE base *gher- "intestine." As a measure of wood (eight feet long, four feet high and wide) first recorded 1616, so called because it was measured with a cord of rope.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: cord
Pronunciation: 'ko(&)rd
Function: noun
1 : a long slender flexible material usually consisting of several strands (as of threador yarn) woven or twisted together
2 : a slender flexible anatomical structure (as a nerve) —see SPERMATICCORD, SPINAL CORD, UMBILICAL CORD,VOCAL CORD 1
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

cord or chord (kôrd)
n.
A long ropelike bodily structure, such as a nerve or tendon.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Bible Dictionary

Cord

frequently used in its proper sense, for fastening a tent (Ex. 35:18; 39:40), yoking animals to a cart (Isa. 5:18), binding prisoners (Judg. 15:13; Ps. 2:3; 129:4), and measuring ground (2 Sam. 8;2; Ps. 78:55). Figuratively, death is spoken of as the giving way of the tent-cord (Job 4:21. "Is not their tent-cord plucked up?" R.V.). To gird one's self with a cord was a token of sorrow and humiliation. To stretch a line over a city meant to level it with the ground (Lam. 2:8). The "cords of sin" are the consequences or fruits of sin (Prov. 5:22). A "threefold cord" is a symbol of union (Eccl. 4:12). The "cords of a man" (Hos. 11:4) means that men employ, in inducing each other, methods such as are suitable to men, and not "cords" such as oxen are led by. Isaiah (5:18) says, "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope." This verse is thus given in the Chaldee paraphrase: "Woe to those who begin to sin by little and little, drawing sin by cords of vanity: these sins grow and increase till they are strong and are like a cart rope." This may be the true meaning. The wicked at first draw sin with a slender cord; but by-and-by their sins increase, and they are drawn after them by a cart rope. Henderson in his commentary says: "The meaning is that the persons described were not satisfied with ordinary modes of provoking the Deity, and the consequent ordinary approach of his vengeance, but, as it were, yoked themselves in the harness of iniquity, and, putting forth all their strength, drew down upon themselves, with accelerated speed, the load of punishment which their sins deserved."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Abbreviations & Acronyms
CORD
Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

cord

unit of volume for measuring stacked firewood. A cord is generally equivalent to a stack 4 4 8 feet (128 cubic feet), and its principal subdivision is the cord foot, which measures 4 4 1 feet. A standard cord consists of sticks or pieces 4 feet long stacked in a 4 8-foot rick. A short cord is a 4 8-foot rick of pieces shorter than 4 feet, and a long cord is a similar rick of pieces longer than 4 feet. A face cord is a 4 8-foot stack of pieces 1 foot long. The cord was originally devised in order to measure firewood and was so named because a line, string, or cord was used to tie the wood into a bundle.

Learn more about cord with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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