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chain
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
chain
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a chain of events (=a series of events where each one causes the next)
▪ He set in motion a chain of events that he couldn’t control.
a chain/group of islands
▪ Our destination was a chain of islands, sixty miles east of Taiwan.
a cinema chain (=a group of cinemas owned by the same company)
▪ He works for a well-known cinema chain.
a mountain range/chain (=a number of mountains in a line)
▪ The Alps are the largest mountain range in Europe.
a restaurant chain (=one that is owned or managed by the same company or person)
▪ Café Rouge is part of a large restaurant chain.
ball and chain
▪ The lower-tech side of the business was seen as a ball and chain.
chain gang
chain letter
chain mail
chain of command
▪ Symonds is third in the chain of command.
chain reaction
▪ A sudden drop on Wall Street can set off a chain reaction in other financial markets.
chain stitch
chain store
choke chain
daisy chain
food chain
▪ Pollution is affecting many creatures lower down the food chain.
gold watch/chain/ring etc
key chain
retail outlet/shop/store/chain
▪ We are looking for more retail outlets for our products.
snow chains
the chain/line of command (=a system of passing decisions from people at the the top to the bottom)
▪ Our company has a traditional management chain of command.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
big
▪ Many big chains had pushed for a 2 percent reduction, but believe the 1 percent cut could still help.
▪ One day I was going to go to Petland and get one of those big chains, the stainless steel ones.
▪ A handful of new outlets will be launched next year and if successful, will lead to an even bigger chain.
▪ The big supermarket chains certainly regained favour in 2000.
▪ But none of them have really rattled the big chains until Food Giant came along.
▪ They used to have big chains right round, fore and aft to keep them together.
gold
▪ It was a gold chain, and on the end of it was a picture of a very beautiful woman.
▪ She wore a little gold chain around her neck.
▪ We didn't care about the magazine we just wanted to trace back the gold chain see who handled it.
▪ The gold chains were gone now, too.
▪ On one ankle she wears a gold chain.
▪ Her jewelry was gold, delicate chains at her wrist and throat.
▪ Elizabeth had let him wear a gold chain of hers round his neck.
▪ Even though her neck was repeatedly sliced, several gold chains she wore were not broken.
heavy
▪ Wearing a chic, low cut dress and heavy gold chain she meets our gaze with a challenging look.
▪ He rode between cars, gripping the heavy chain.
▪ Perhaps the most impressive beast of all, is the Current Trends Lion with a heavy duty bicycle chain for its mane.
▪ They were linked by a slack, heavy, silvery chain that swayed lazily when he raised his hands.
▪ From its rear chassis, two heavy chains were securely attached to the steel bars of the gates.
▪ Earrings and heavy chains around the neck are a no-no on the field.
▪ Hesione is standing with her hands bound behind her back and held in position by two heavy chains attached to weights.
▪ We dined among men with heavy watch chains and heavier bellies.
human
▪ We can form a human chain of Berliners along the Wall which no one dare break, nomatterhow many soldiers they send.
▪ With a half-life of 12 years, tritium could build up in the Tamar estuary and eventually enter the human food chain.
▪ Rally organizers with colored arm-bands link hands, forming a human chain at the crosswalks.
▪ The crowd was on the point of becoming a lynch mob, but were still linked in a human chain.
▪ Traders sitting elbow to elbow formed a human chain.
▪ Firefighters formed a human chain to carry the four brothers to safety but they found to be dead at hospital.
▪ They had dropped out of the human chain of ancestors and descendants that had formerly bound them all together.
large
▪ Months later it merged with the considerably larger Mothercare chain in a reverse take-over.
▪ Saying they were losing money there, large grocery chains began moving out of inner-city neighborhoods in the 1980s.
▪ Hospitals, which used to be almost exclusively not-for-profit institutions, are being taken over by large corporate chains.
▪ From an operations district manager from a large retail chain.
▪ Thrifty Payless Inc., the largest drugstore chain in the West, operates 1, 048 stores in 11 Western states.
▪ Some large chains of supermarkets publish booklets on calorie, fat, and fibre content of their foods.
▪ The critical composition at which phase separation is first detected is then and which indicates that at infinitely large chain length.
long
▪ Under these conditions, however, ethylene forms short chains or rings, rather than the long chains of the solid polymer.
▪ In general, the longer the chain, the less stable the interacting web to environmental disruption.
▪ In reality, of course, they are the result of a long chain of conscious decision making.
▪ Viscosity, or resistance to flow, is a property of fluids containing long molecular chains that tangle and intertwine.
▪ I was a very small link in an immensely long chain.
▪ Simply put, the longer the chain, the easier it is for an alcohol to mix with fat.
▪ They key to the parent was the longest chain of carbon atoms.
▪ The warder peered through the observation slot then selected a key from the long chain that dangled from his belt.
major
▪ So far 4,411 retailers with 10,789 shops, including some major chains, have signed up to take part in the scheme.
▪ Today, major chain stores and automakers are slated to release December sales figures.
▪ Selling price is around £30, from Argos, Texas, other major chain and d-i-y stores, and specialist electrical shops.
▪ No one at Safeway Stores, the other major grocery chain in the Washington-Baltimore area, was available for comment.
▪ According to their localization, these deletions or duplications frequently provoke major respiratory chain function defects, with consequent cellular energy supply deficiencies.
▪ Discussions with another major supermarket chain should yield an own-label deal soon.
▪ A major chain of retailers has agreed to withdraw them from sale, but hundreds are still thought to be in use.
national
▪ The suspect meat, more than eight tonnes of it, ended up in three national supermarket chains.
▪ The deal should allow Glynwed's food service division to sell complete cooking and refrigeration equipment ranges to national supermarket chains.
▪ A national discount chain had opened several warehouse outlets in a geographic region the retailer had long dominated.
▪ His paper is part of a national chain.
▪ One national chain is currently charging $ 299 for the Playstation and $ 249 for Saturn.
▪ Yeewho had managed regional offices of national retail chains for two decades before founding Zhenwas skeptical about branching out into department stores.
retail
▪ The above reference to large and powerful retail chains implies that they can exert a strong influence in the marketplace.
▪ But they face opposition from a lobbying powerhouse of credit card companies, banks, auto companies and retail chains.
▪ Numerous downsized banks, insurers and retail chains have seen their customers' satisfaction plummet.
▪ The license limit has prevented retail chains from selling alcoholic beverages at all but a handful of locations.
▪ Retail systems. Retail chains vary from being very long to very short.
▪ The company also manufactures a line of denim clothing for the Express retail chain, Viramontes said.
▪ The environmentally friendly retail chain will combine its Web operations with its retail and mail order activities.
▪ Upscale retail chains are doing the same with specially formulated baby creams and lotions.
small
▪ One of the things that distinguished Belmodes from its rivals was the small chain of shops Rose herself had launched.
▪ Hundreds of smaller chains and stores went out of business, many hurt by price wars waged by appliance chains.
▪ Most active construction is coming from the smaller chains and operators like Quality Inns.
▪ This small chain specialises in banking, business, accountancy and law.
■ NOUN
choke
▪ Here the choke chain is relaxed, Note that the leash itself is held in your right hand.
▪ Similarly the choke chain will again tighten, encouraging your pet to walk alongside you.
▪ Also, long walks, like choke chains, are out of the question.
▪ Remove the normal collar before fitting the choke chain, so that they can not become tangled together.
▪ This is the approximate length of choke chain which will be required.
▪ Always ensure that the choke chain is positioned correctly.
daisy
▪ He got out the cheating stick and clipped the peg, swarming up in a daisy chain of quick-draws.
▪ We were all linked in a vast and rhythmic coincidence, a daisy chain of rumor, suspicion and secret wish.
▪ Have you ever made a daisy chain?
food
▪ Caesium accumulates up the food chain from the soil through vegetation to contaminate meat.
▪ The next step: Move down the food chain and look for retail partners such as drugstores.
▪ Evidence has also emerged that oil has entered the food chain after being ingested by fish such as salmon.
▪ The only true amateurs left are the ones on the bottom end of the highlights-film, commercial-endorsement food chain.
▪ This is the first time a high street fast food chain has linked up with a theme park.
▪ In 1993 more than 500 people fell ill and four died after eating hamburgers from the Jack-in-the-Box fast food chain.
▪ Environmentalists have warned that dioxins accumulate in fat and milk and will work their way through the food chain.
▪ Once formulated, they remain for ever in the environment and build up in food chains and ultimately in our bodies.
gang
▪ He did a stint on a chain gang, and he became a professional boxer for a while.
▪ Citizens have loved his reintroduction of the chain gang and the Army-surplus tents he erected to ease jail overcrowding.
▪ Tethered like a chain gang, the herd is led away between koonkies.
hotel
▪ Average room and car rates based on averages from 10 leading hotel chains and six car-rental companies.
▪ Its strength and abrasion resistance have made it ideal for shoe cleaning cloths, as provided by most hotel chains.
▪ The group would continue to manage its various hotel chains, which include Sofitel, Mercure and Novotel.
▪ Acorn would provide us with a ready-made hotel chain ripe for further expansion.
▪ We worked with one hotel chain that avowed to the point of dementia its commitment to customer service and comfort.
▪ But although he now runs a hotel chain with 160 properties in 47 countries, he has never actually managed a hotel.
link
▪ But in the end the resident was only allowed to inspect the security of the chain link fence around the dump.
▪ About every third property boasted a brand-new chain link fence, erected to corral Cod knows what kind of beast.
▪ Through the mouth there appears to be the remains of a chain link from which the knife would have been suspended.
▪ A couple of the boys did once, climbing over the high chain link fence around the playground.
▪ Before she had taken five steps she hit the chain link fencing that was invisible in the darkness.
▪ The Republicans have fenced off the convention with chain link.
▪ Poking through chain link fences at factories and construction sites.
mail
▪ Eleventh-century Norman knight with chain mail coat, kite-shaped shield, sword and long lance which could be used from horseback.
▪ It began to appear more convoluted, interlocking chain mail ... some sort of suit.
▪ Knight, mounting his horse, wearing chain mail of the type developed from eastern sources during Barbarossa's reign.
▪ Within a space of some twenty years, chain mail virtually replaced a variety of earlier forms of armour.
▪ Round shields, chain mail and simple conical helmets are clearly visible.
mountain
▪ The whole mountain chain originated from this cleft as lava surged up and spilled down on both sides.
▪ The edge of the overriding plate is crumpled and uplifted to form a mountain chain parallel to the trench.
▪ They are crude and narrow compared to the Dwarf mines of the other mountain chains and prone to collapsing unexpectedly.
▪ During that time continents, oceans, and mountain chains have moved horizontally and vertically through large distances.
▪ The thickened edges of these rafts are of course the mountain chains such as the Andes.
▪ Sibley lives in a remote corner of a remote mountain chain in the wilds of Arizona.
polymer
▪ As soon as such heterogeneity enters into a polymer chain, information technology becomes a theoretical possibility.
▪ The forces between atoms on a polymer chain are about two orders of magnitude stronger than those between chains.
▪ Scientists predicted that solitons should be very mobile, but only along the polymer chains.
▪ The alignment of polymer chains at specific distances from one another to form crystalline nuclei will be assisted when intermolecular forces are strong.
▪ The parameter is the average mean square of the unperturbed dimension, which is a characteristic parameter for a given polymer chain.
reaction
▪ The sample was finally resuspended in 50 µl of TRIS-EDTA buffer. polymerase chain reactions Two sets of primers were used.
▪ The demise of Woosung could have a chain reaction on other subcontractors relying on a government helping hand, analysts said.
▪ Details of the polymerase chain reaction are given in a previous publication.
▪ His answer sparked a chain reaction that led, almost forty years after the article was published, to the Macintosh computer.
▪ Instability would spread like a chain reaction.
▪ A new cycle of chain reactions could destabilize the system of people who use, provide and pay for health care.
▪ Metaphor: e.g. chain reaction 3.
▪ In a chain reaction on a world scale, prices on innumerable commodities skyrocketed within weeks.
restaurant
▪ Burger King is widely regarded as the quality fast food hamburger restaurant chain.
▪ And other quick-serve restaurant chains, such as Boston Market, are jumping on the bandwagon.
▪ The steak restaurant chain Buffalo Grill withdrew the cuts from its menus last weekend.
▪ The Golden-based restaurant chain has jumped 12 percent in the last two trading sessions.
▪ The demographic data we have provided is accurate enough, but no resemblance to any existing restaurant chain is intended.
▪ A fast food restaurant chain in the United States is pioneering the use of pagers for its waiters.
▪ Lately, the restaurant chain, which caters mainly to blue-collar diners, has been hurt by competition.
store
▪ The Habitat store chain was yesterday fined £8,800 at Basingstoke for overcharging.
▪ The department store chain will consolidate its regional businesses into its Schaumburg, Illinois.
▪ But Agriculture Minister Nick Brown stressed he does not blame the store chains.
▪ The department store chain is giving up a well-located outlet in its bid to compete in the shrinking department store retailing world.
▪ Branching out: A northern store chain is helping to open branches of a different kind.
▪ Department store chain Shekem was off 0. 25 percent.
▪ The site features several large retailers, including Gottschalks Inc., a California based department store chain.
supermarket
▪ The suspect meat, more than eight tonnes of it, ended up in three national supermarket chains.
▪ That shuts out producers such as supermarket chains, where loaves are baked from batches of frozen dough made elsewhere.
▪ Some retailers use distinctive packaging for their own brands, eg one supermarket chain packaged everything in bright yellow.
▪ Prices even vary within supermarket chains.
▪ A supermarket chain gave the name Pemberley to its own brand of champagne.
▪ Consider Britain, where Tesco, a supermarket chain, is now the brand with the biggest ad budget.
▪ Forecourts are drastically cutting prices after the Tesco supermarket chain announced a massive drop in the cost of a gallon.
▪ The big supermarket chains certainly regained favour in 2000.
supply
▪ According to SynQuest, this will allow Ford to plan and simulate its logistics process, making the supply chain more reliable.
▪ The toy store, fried chicken and office supply chains were stated since Lew became chairman in 1991.
▪ There are four stages to the project: Vision of Guinness Brewing's future supply chain requirements.
▪ Discovery of the present supply chain capabilities and the gap between where the company is today and the vision for the future.
▪ The buy-out advances Nissan's supply chain restructuring and gives Vantec independence to pursue third party business aggressively.
▪ If you want more information on supply chains, contact your departmental representative on the project.
■ VERB
break
▪ The defendants were held not liable for this injury, as the plaintiff's unreasonable conduct broke the chain of causation.
▪ Unable to bear the humiliation, one night he broke the chain and ran away, never to return.
▪ I let it get up to seventy, and then broke the chain in my panic.
▪ Because such a policy did nothing to break the chain of capitalism worldwide.
▪ The defendant was held liable for the loss, as the thief's act did not break the chain of causation.
▪ In order to break the chain of causation the third party act must be independent of the breach of duty.
▪ The effect was to trigger off a largely middle-class uprising designed to break the chains hampering economic growth and professional advancement.
form
▪ Under these conditions, however, ethylene forms short chains or rings, rather than the long chains of the solid polymer.
▪ Rally organizers with colored arm-bands link hands, forming a human chain at the crosswalks.
▪ We can form a human chain of Berliners along the Wall which no one dare break, nomatterhow many soldiers they send.
▪ Primary structure refers to the joining of the amino acids through peptide bonds to form polypeptide chains.
▪ The policy process is dynamic, with inputs, conversion, outputs and feedback forming a continuous chain.
▪ The edge of the overriding plate is crumpled and uplifted to form a mountain chain parallel to the trench.
▪ These may be simple or complex, forming saddles when intermediate chains are shortened.
▪ In some minerals two single chains are combined to form double chains, in which the chains are linked by cations.
own
▪ Lord Kemsley and Lord Rothermere owned chains of provincial dailies too.
▪ Keen on promoting venture capital, Viney owns a chain of wine bars as a sideline.
▪ In 1910, only sixty-two dailies were owned by chains, which averaged less than five newspapers per chain.
▪ Now, when the economy shifts daily, owning the whole chain of production is a liability.
pull
▪ Hugh called from the loo to tell her that pulling the chain produced a cascade of silence.
▪ He pulled the chain that hung above his right shoulder.
▪ Each time you wanted to go up or down you had to pull a chain.
▪ At the left of the altar, he reached up and pulled the chain that brought down the attic stairs.
▪ He pulled the chain that hung down from the water tank.
▪ He pulled the chain above the commode and there was a rush of water.
▪ He pulled the chain above him.
set
▪ What the defendant has done is to set in motion a chain of events.
▪ You set up a money chain that makes it impossible to trace the source.
▪ That sets off a chain reaction of difficulties.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
human chain
▪ Firefighters formed a human chain to carry the four brothers to safety but they found to be dead at hospital.
▪ Rally organizers with colored arm-bands link hands, forming a human chain at the crosswalks.
▪ The crowd was on the point of becoming a lynch mob, but were still linked in a human chain.
▪ They had dropped out of the human chain of ancestors and descendants that had formerly bound them all together.
▪ Traders sitting elbow to elbow formed a human chain.
▪ We can form a human chain of Berliners along the Wall which no one dare break, nomatterhow many soldiers they send.
link in the chain
▪ Development itself can be a link in the chain of stress and violence.
▪ He felt like a useless and unused link in the chain.
▪ I am a link in the chain, a bond of connection between persons.
▪ That's what I was - a link in the chain.
▪ The law does not allow the consumer to ignore the intermediate links in the chain.
▪ The schools are a critical link in the chain, but only one.
▪ This is the weakest link in the chain, and we have a system for chasing referees and eventually going elsewhere.
▪ This time, it was the primacy of the office as gathering place that was the weak link in the chain.
the food chain
▪ Pollution is having a long-term impact on the food chain in the bay.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A mugger tore Sylvia's gold chain from her neck.
▪ It's the largest mountain chain in North America.
▪ The gates were held shut with a chain and a padlock.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ For this reason any purchaser will wish to see that all documents in the chain of title are properly stamped.
▪ Hanging from hooks on the wall were sets of wire-pulling devices, complete with chain winch and gripper.
▪ He came to the defense of his younger brother, Von, by swinging a chain at his attacker.
▪ He opened the door, allowing it to reach only the length of the chain.
▪ Hundreds of smaller chains and stores went out of business, many hurt by price wars waged by appliance chains.
▪ Lewis's, a provincial chain of department stores which employed 3,400 people, is in the hands of the receivers.
▪ The coffee chain has rolled out the concept in a number of markets across the country.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
together
▪ Into this pool plunge rank after rank of children chained together.
▪ The tape shows that the women were not chained together.
up
▪ And he was chained up - possibly to a Roman soldier.
▪ Patients were chained up, and the noise would have been incredible.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ The gates were chained shut.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Fettered and chained, with a mat of coarse brown hair, with sly, utterly mad eyes, but Human.
▪ Have these people been in a time-machine or chained in dimly-lit rooms in Beirut?
▪ Like that to chain her up and keep all the food away.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Chain

Chain \Chain\ (ch[=a]n), 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

    1. (Naut.) The bolt at the lower end of the chain plate, which fastens it to the vessel's side.

    2. 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.

      1. A shackle for uniting lengths of chain, or connecting a chain with an object.

      2. (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.

Chain

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.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
chain

late 14c., "to bar with a chain; to put (someone) in chains," also "to link things together," from chain (n.). Related: Chained; chaining.

chain

c.1300, from Old French chaeine "chain" (12c., Modern French chaîne), from Latin catena "chain" (source also of Spanish cadena, Italian catena), which is of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE root *kat- "to twist, twine" (cognates: Latin cassis "hunting net, snare").\n

\nFigurative use from c.1600. As a type of ornament worn about the neck, from late 14c. Chain of stores is American English, 1846. Chain gang is from 1834; chain reaction is from 1916 in physics, specific nuclear physics sense is from 1938; chain mail first recorded 1822, in Scott, from mail (n.2). Before that, mail alone sufficed. Chain letter recorded from 1892; usually to raise money at first; decried from the start as a nuisance.Nine out of every ten givers are reluctant and unwilling, and are coerced into giving through the awful fear of "breaking the chain," so that the spirit of charity is woefully absent. ["St. Nicholas" magazine, vol. XXVI, April 1899]\nChain smoker is attested from 1886, originally of Bismarck (who smoked cigars), thus probably a loan-translation of German Kettenraucher. Chain-smoking is from 1930.

Related phrases:
Wiktionary
chain

n. 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 (context chemistry English) A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule. 5 (context surveying English) A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device. 6 (context surveying English) A long measuring tape. 7 A unit of length equal to 22 yards. The length of a Gunter's surveying chain. The length of a cricket pitch. Equal to 20.12 metres. Equal to 4 rods. Equal to 100 links. 8 (context mathematics order theory English) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset. 9 (context British English) 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 pull out). 10 That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond. 11 (context nautical in the plural English) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels. 12 (context weaving English) The warp threads of a web. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To fasten something with a chain. 2 (context intransitive English) To link multiple items together. 3 (context transitive English) To secure someone with fetters. 4 (context transitive English) To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain. 5 (context computing English) To relate data items with a chain of pointers. 6 (context computing English) To be chained to another data item. 7 (context transitive English) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying. 8 {{context|transitive|computing|rare|associated with (w: Acorn Computers)|lang=en}} To load and automatically run (a program).

Related phrases:
WordNet
chain

  1. v. connect or arrange into a chain by linking

  2. fasten or secure with chains; "Chain the chairs together" [ant: unchain]

chain

  1. n. a series of things depending on each other as if linked together; "the chain of command"; "a complicated concatenation of circumstances" [syn: concatenation]

  2. (chemistry) a series of linked atoms (generally in an organic molecule) [syn: chemical chain]

  3. a series of (usually metal) rings or links fitted into one another to make a flexible ligament

  4. 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) [syn: Ernst Boris Chain, Sir Ernst Boris Chain]

  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, mountain range, range of mountains, mountain chain, chain of mountains]

  9. metal shackles; for hands or legs [syn: iron, irons, chains]

  10. a necklace made by a stringing objects together; "a string of beads"; "a strand of pearls"; [syn: string, strand]

Related phrases:
Gazetteer
Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Chain (algebraic topology)

In algebraic topology, a simplicial k-chain is a formal linear combination of k- simplices.

CHAIN (programming language)

CHAIN was Datapoint's batch programming language, used in the late 1980s.

Category:Scripting languages

CHAIN (industry standard)

The CECED Convergence Working Group has defined a new platform, called CHAIN (Ceced Home Appliances Interoperating Network), which defines a protocol for interconnecting different home appliances in a single multibrand system.

It allows for control and automation of all basic appliance-related services in a home: e.g., remote control of appliance operation, energy or load management, remote diagnostics and automatic maintenance support to appliances, downloading and updating of data, programs and services (possibly from the Internet).

Chain (film)

Chain (2004) is a "narrative/documentary" film written and directed by Jem Cohen. The movie is about two women, a corporate executive and a young drifter whose lives are changed by the loss of regional identity due to the similarity of retail culture worldwide. Although the ladies' lives seem very distinct at the start, by the end of the film they have been reduced to similar viewpoints in their lives.

Chain (disambiguation)

A chain is a series of connected links which are typically made of metal.

Chain may also refer to:

  • Catenary (or "chain"), the shape of a hanging flexible cable when supported at its ends and acted upon by a uniform gravitational force
  • Chain (real estate), whereby a group of buyers/sellers are linked together
  • Chain (unit), unit of length
  • Chain Home and Chain Home Low, early British RDF (radar) systems of the WWII era
  • Chain tool, small mechanical device used to "break" a bicycle chain in such a way that it could be mended with the same tool
  • Chaining, a technique from applied behavioral analysis for teaching complicated tasks by breaking them into simpler steps
  • Chains (nautical), small platforms on the sides of ships
  • Gunter's chain, a unit of measurement
  • Mail (armour) (or "chainmail"), a type of armor made of interlocking chain links
  • Mental chain, a deeply rooted mental attachment preventing one from achieving liberation from suffering
  • Necklace, a jewelry which is worn around the neck
Chain (Bonnie Pink EP)

"Chain" is an EP released by Bonnie Pink under the Warner Music Japan label on November 26, 2008.

Chain (caste)

The Chain, sometimes also pronounced as Chai, are cultivating and fishing caste found in eastern Uttar Pradesh in India. They are a sub-group within the larger Kewat communinity of North India.

Chain (KAT-TUN album)

Chain is the Sixth studio album by Japanese boy band KAT-TUN and was released in Japan on February 22, 2012 by J-One Records. On January 13, KAT-TUN endorsed the mobile game site "entag!" which used KAT-TUN's album track "Smile for You" as a CM song and the first-ever KAT-TUN animation, "Ai wa KAT-TUN", voiced by KAT-TUN themselves, was launched on entag! site for a limited period. Ai wa KAT-TUN hit 1,000,000 views in just 2 weeks.

Chain (Pylon album)

Chain is the third studio album by American rock band from Athens, Georgia Pylon, released in 1990.

Chain

A chain is a series of connected links which are typically made of metal. A chain may consist of two or more links.

  • Those designed for lifting, such as when used with a hoist; for pulling; or for securing, such as with a bicycle lock, have links that are torus shaped, which make the chain flexible in two dimensions (The fixed third dimension being a chain's length.)
  • Those designed for transferring power in machines have links designed to mesh with the teeth of the sprockets of the machine, and are flexible in only one dimension. They are known as roller chains, though there are also non-roller chains such as block chain.

Two distinct chains can be connected using a quick link which resembles a carabiner with a screw close rather than a latch.

Chain (unit)

A chain (ch) is a unit of length. It measures 66 feet, or 22 yards, or 100 links, or 4 rods (20.1168 m). There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains (that is, an area of one chain by one furlong). The chain has been used for several centuries in Britain and in some other countries influenced by British practice.

By extension, chainage (running distance) is the distance along a curved or straight survey line from a fixed commencing point, as given by an odometer.

Chain (real estate)

A chain, when used in reference to the process of buying or selling a house, is a sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase. The term is commonly used in the UK. It is an example of a vacancy chain.

Each member of the chain is a house sale, which depends both upon the buyers receiving the money from selling their houses and on the sellers successfully buying the houses that they intend to move into. Where no chain exists, it is called a chain free property but only 10% of property transactions in the United Kingdom have no chain.

For example, in a four- household chain, A buys B's house, B uses the money from that sale to buy C's house, and C uses the money from that sale to buy D's house. (A chain can be circular. This example becomes circular if D buys A's house.) All sales in a chain close on the same day. On that day, all the households involved in the chain leave their former homes and move to their new homes.

This situation is notorious for being liable to "break" if one of the transactions fails, for example due to financial difficulties, a change of heart, or the practice of gazumping or gazundering. The failure of one member of the chain fouls the whole set of transactions. The remaining chain fragments must find new buyers and sellers to form new chains.

A chain begins with a household buying a house without selling their current house. Examples:

  • A household that does not currently own a house. This may be a first time buyer, such as a household moving out of rented accommodation. It may also be the result of a household splitting, for example a grown child leaving home.
  • A household retaining ownership of their old house after moving out. For example, they may wish to rent it out, demolish it, or merely leave it vacant and keep it on the market.

A chain ends with a house being sold and not depending on existing owners buying a house to move into. Examples:

  • A household moving into a vacant house. It may be a newly built house or a house rendered vacant due to the death of its occupant or occupants or the departure of former tenants.
  • A household moving to join an existing household.
  • A household moving to temporary accommodation until they can buy a new house.
  • A household moving into rented accommodation or a nursing home.
Chain (Paul Haig album)

Chain was Edinburgh musician Paul Haig's third album and was released in May 1989 on Circa Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records. Chain, which Haig financed himself, was recorded and completed in 1988, but it sat on the shelf after the normally accommodating Les Disques Du Crepuscule decided not to take up the option of releasing it. The album was co-produced by long-time Haig cohort, Alan Rankine, instrumentalist with celebrated Dundee band, The Associates. There was another Associates connection on the album - the track "Chained" was written by Haig's good friend, Billy Mackenzie. Haig returned the favour and gave Mackenzie the track "Reach The Top" for his album The Glamour Chase, which after many years in limbo was finally released in 2002.

One single, " Something Good", was taken from the album, but much to Circa's disappointment, neither the single nor the album sold in great numbers.

The sleeve features a shot of Audrey Hepburn, taken by the celebrated photographer, Angus McBean in 1958.

Deleted for many years, Chain was given re-released by Cherry Red Records in November 2007.

Chain (band)

Chain are an Australian blues band formed in Melbourne as The Chain in late 1968 with a lineup including guitarist, vocalist Phil Manning; they are sometimes known as Matt Taylor's Chain after lead singer-songwriter and harmonica player, Matt Taylor. Their January 1971 single " Black and Blue", which became their only top twenty hit, was recorded by Chain line-up of Manning, Taylor, drummer Barry Harvey and bass guitarist Barry Sullivan. The related album, Toward the Blues followed in September and peaked in the top ten albums chart. Manfred Mann's Earth Band famously covered " Black and Blue" on their album "Messin`" (June 1973).

Chain had various line-ups until July 1974, they separated for several years then reformed in 1982 for a one-off concert and more permanently from 1983–1986. Further line-up changes occurred with some forms called Matt Taylor's Chain, from 1998 Chain members are Harvey, Manning, Taylor and Dirk Du Bois on bass guitar. Both Manning and Taylor have also had separate solo careers. In 2005 Chain released, Sweet Honey and continued touring irregularly; on 3 May 2009, they performed at the Cairns Blues Festival.

The Beaten Tracks were a pop / blues / R&B band formed in Perth, Western Australia in 1965 and included, John Vanderhagh on drums, Alan Power on lead guitar/vocals, Dave Cook on rhythm guitar/vocals, Dave Cross on rhythm guitar/vocals, Paul Frieze on bass guitar, and Ross Partington on lead vocals/harmonica (ex Majestics). They played cover versions of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Mowtown, Blues, Rock material. Vanderhagh left in 1966 and was replaced by Frank Capeling on drums. Cook left in early 1967 and was replaced by Warren Morgan on Farfisa organ then Hammond organ (ex freelance jazz keyboards) Frieze left in 1967 and was replaced by John (the "Scotsman") Gray on bass guitar (ex Ray Hoff and the Offbeats). Capeling left in 1967 and was replaced by Ace Follington on drums (ex Yeoman). In late 1967 Cross left and was not replaced and Scott left and was replaced by Murray Wilkins on bass guitar/vocals (ex West Coast Trio and freelance jazz double bassist). With the addition of the Hammond organ the band incorporated material from Traffic, Vanilla Fudge, Young Rascals, The Band etc. Following their win in Perth's 1968 Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds Power left and was replaced by Dave Hole on lead guitar/vocals who then left whilst the band was in Melbourne for the finals and was replaced by Phil Manning on lead guitar/vocals (ex-Bay City Union, Bobby & Laurie/Laurie Allen Revue). The band returned to Perth then eventually relocated in Melbourne. Partington departed in December 1968, returning to Perth to form The Tracks with Lindsay Wells on lead guitar/vocals and Joey Anderson on drums (both ex Sari Brit), Pete Tindal on bass guitar/vocals (ex Cherokees) and Peter Waddell on Hammond organ/vocals (ex Paul McKay Sound). Partington was replaced by Wendy Saddington (ex-James Taylor Move). She provided a new name for the band, The Chain, after the Aretha Franklin song "Chain of Fools".[1][2] Saddington left the band in May 1969 to write for teen pop newspaper Go-Set and to join the band Copperwine; she later had a solo career. Saddington was replaced by New Zealander Glyn Mason (ex- Larry's Rebels), Wilkins left in August and was replaced by Tim Piper (ex-Electric Heap) on bass guitar, and Morgan, who left to join Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, was replaced by Claude Papesch on organ (also ex-Electric Heap). The Chain's first single, "Show Me Home", was released by Festival Records in October, but Follington, Piper and Papesch had all left. Barry Harvey on drums and Barry Sullivan on bass guitar (both ex- Wild Cherries) joined and the name was shortened to Chain. The band's first album Live Chain was recorded in 1970 at Caesar's Palace discothèque, Sydney; by the time it was released in October, Mason had left to travel overseas, he was later in Ariel.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "chain".

Once was I taken of the foemen in the town where I abode when my lord was away from me, and a huge slaughter of innocent folk was made, and I was cast into prison and chains, after I had seen my son that I had borne to my lord slain before mine eyes.

Spirit, with each node in the continuum of being, each link in the chain, being absolutely necessary and intrinsically valuable.

On the abutment towers the chains are connected by horizontal links, carried on rockers, to anchor ties.

Each chain over a shore span consists of two segments, the longer attached to the tie at the top of the river tower, the shorter to the link at the top of the abutment tower, and the two jointed together at the lowest point.

On the other hand, a girder imposes only a vertical load on its piers and abutments, and not a horizontal thrust, as in the case of an arch or suspension chain.

Two main towers in the river and two towers on the shore abutments carry the suspension chains.

Achieving this end required that Einstein forge a second link in the chain uniting gravity and accelerated motion: the curvature of space and time, to which we now turn.

Not Jove: while yet his frown shook Heaven ay, when His adversary from adamantine chains Cursed him, he trembled like a slave.

Her adamantine chain mail was a glossy black, her long white hair neatly braided.

Perhaps even as they had reluctantly authorized the necessary funds the Adjutors had looked forward to the day when they could take the ship for their own, to control it without having to work through the military chain of command.

Lord Ado sank to his knees and collapsed on the floor, she switched the two pieces of chain to one hand.

But it never amounted to anything more than warm friendship, as his love for his free and adventurous life was much stronger than any chains Cupid could weave.

The Pope would die and the circus would actually begin with the tawdry tinkle of the hurdy-gurdy and monkeys on chains, the trumpet fanfare of a Fellini movie and the clowns and all the freaks and aerialists joining hands, dancing, capering across the screen.

Had scarce burst forth, when from afar The ministers of misrule sent, Seized upon Lionel, and bore His chained limbs to a dreary tower, In the midst of a city vast and wide.

And he saw her afar as leaves in the winds of autumn, and in winter as a star upon a hill, but a chain was upon his limbs.