Dictionary:

chain

  (chān)

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chain

left to right: figaro, sash, and stud links (Academy Artworks)

1. 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.
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.
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.
8. 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.

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.

pull (or yank) (someone's) chain

1. To take unfair advantage of someone; deceive or manipulate someone.

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

Linking items or records to form a chain. Each link in the chain points to the next item.

A linear unit of land measurement used in surveying: 66 feet in length. Each chain consists of 100 links.
Example: A plot 66 ft. Square measures 1 chain by 1 chain.

noun

1. Something that physically confines the legs or arms. bond, fetter, handcuff (often used in plural), hobble, iron (used in plural), manacle, restraint, shackle. Archaic gyve. See free/unfree.
2. A number of things placed or occurring one after the other: consecution, course, order, procession, progression, round, run, sequence, series, string, succession, suite, train. Informal streak. See order/disorder.

verb

To restrict the activity or free movement of: fetter, hamper, hamstring, handcuff, hobble, leash, manacle, shackle, tie, trammel. Informal hog-tie. See free/unfree, help/harm/harmless.

Idioms beginning with chain:
chain reaction
chain smoker

See also ball and chain; pull someone's 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.

A land surveyor’s standard distance-measuring device. Also see Gunter’s chain.

1. A concept that suggests that in a movement consisting of a number of components occurring in a sequence, termination of early components results in sensory feedback, which acts as a stimulus initiating the next component, and so on until the movement is completed.

2. A method of learning a skill consisting of several actions linked in a series in which the completion of each action initiates the next action (for example, a floor routine in gymnastics). The components are learnt in the same sequence as they are performed. Compare backward chaining method.

A collection of objects linked together in linear fashion, or end to end, as the assemblage of atoms or radicals in a chemical compound, or an assemblage of individual bacterial cells.

• c. binomial model — model of an outbreak of an infectious disease in which the outbreak is depicted as a series of steps with a binomial statement of the probability of an outcome at each step.
• branched c. — an open chain of atoms, usually carbon, with one or more side chains attached to it.
• heavy c. — any of the large polypeptide chains of five classes that, paired with the light chains, make up the antibody molecule. Heavy chains bear the antigenic determinants that differentiate the immunoglobulin classes. See also heavy-chain disease.
• J c. — a polypeptide occurring in polymeric IgM and IgA molecules.
• light c. — either of the two small polypeptide chains (molecular weight 22,000) that, when linked to heavy chains by disulfide bonds, make up the antibody molecule; they are of two types, kappa and lambda, which are unrelated to immunoglobulin class differences.
• light c. disease — the overproduction of immunoglobulin light chain molecules by certain B cell tumors (plasmacytomas). See monoclonal gammopathy.
• obstetric c. — used in obstetrics in cattle and horses to snare extremities and for traction. Made of rustproof metal with links designed not to kink or to jam. They have a loop link at each end to facilitate single-handed formation of a loop. The links are shaped so that the ring-grip handles used for traction will grip at any point and stay put with the strongest pull.
• c. shank — a leather lead with a short section of chain at the proximal end. It can be placed over the horse's nose, through the mouth or across the upper gum for greater control.
• side c. — a chain of atoms attached to a larger chain or to a ring.
• stallion c. — strong chain, 1–2 ft (0.5 m) long, at the end of a solid lead. For leading a stallion with little chance of his biting through the lead.
• c. termination method — See sanger–coulson method.

To convert from chains to:

inches, multiply by 792.
meters, multiply by 20.12.

Choosing the right kind for your type of boat
An all-chain anchor rode is comforting when it’s down and doing its work. But raising it, even with mechanical help, can be very hard work. Nevertheless, it has so many advantages over a rope rode that most long-distance cruisers use nothing but chain with their working anchors.

Three kinds of anchor chain.

See net, chain, cell system.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - kæde, række, lænker
v. tr. - lægge i lænker, spærre med kæde

idioms:

• chain armor    ringbrynje
• chain armour    ringbrynje
• chain gang    hold af sammenlænkede straffefanger
• chain letter    kædebrev
• chain mail    ringbrynje
• chain reaction    kædereaktion
• chain saw    kædesav, motorsav
• chain store    kædebutik
• chain up    lægge i lænker

Nederlands (Dutch)
ketting, keten, reeks, aaneenschakeling, (vast) ketenen, boeien

Français (French)
n. - enchaînement, chaîne, chaîne de sûreté, (Comm) chaîne (de supermarchés, etc), série (d'événements), (Biol, Géog, Phys) chaîne, mesure (= 20,12 m)
v. tr. - enchaîner, attacher

idioms:

• chain armour    cotte de mailles
• chain gang    chaîne de forçats
• chain letter    chaîne de lettres
• chain mail    cotte de mailles
• chain reaction    réaction en chaîne
• chain saw    tronçonneuse
• chain store    magasin appartenant à une chaîne
• chain up    attacher avec une chaîne, enchaîner

Deutsch (German)
n. - Kette
v. - fesseln, ketten, anketten

idioms:

• chain armour    Kettenpanzer
• chain gang    Trupp aneinandergeketteter Sträflinge
• chain letter    Kettenbrief
• chain mail    Kettenpanzer
• chain reaction    Kettenreaktion
• chain saw    Kettensäge
• chain store    Ladenkette
• chain up    anketten

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αλυσίδα, άλυσος, σειρά, αλληλουχία
v. - αλυσοδένω

idioms:

• chain armor    σιδερόπλεχτος θώρακας
• chain armour    σιδερόπλεχτος θώρακας
• chain gang    κατάδικοι των κατέργων (δεμένοι μαζί κατά την εργασία στο ύπαιθρο)
• chain letter    αλυσιδωτή επιστολή, επιστολή-αλυσίδα
• chain mail    σιδερόπλεχτος θώρακας
• chain reaction    αλυσ(ιδ)ωτή αντίδραση
• chain saw    (φορητό) αλυσοπρίονο
• chain store    κατάστημα που ανήκει σε αλυσίδα
• chain up    δένω (ζώο)

Italiano (Italian)
incatenare, catena

idioms:

• chain gang    catena di forzati
• chain letter    lettera in una catena di Sant'Antonio
• chain mail/armor    cotta di maglia
• chain reaction    reazione a catena
• chain saw    motosega
• chain store    catena di negozi
• chain up    incatenare
• ship's chain    catena

Português (Portuguese)
n. - corrente (m), cadeia (m)
v. - acorrentar

idioms:

• chain gang    leva (m) de acorrentados
• chain letter    carta (f) de corrente
• chain mail/armor    cota (f) de malha
• chain reaction    reação (f) em cadeia
• chain saw    serra (f) de cadeia
• chain store    cadeia (f) de lojas
• chain up    encadear
• ship's chain    amarra (f)

Русский (Russian)
сковать цепью, цепь, сеть магазинов

idioms:

• chain gang    заключенные, скованные одной цепью
• chain letter    письмо, рассылаемое по цепочке
• chain mail/armor    кольчуга
• chain reaction    цепная реакция
• chain saw    дисковая пила
• chain store    один из сети фирменных магазинов
• chain up    посадить на цепь
• ship's chain    якорная цепь

Español (Spanish)
n. - cadena, sucesión, cadena de negocios
v. tr. - encadenar

idioms:

• chain armour    cota de malla, cota de mallas, jacerina
• chain gang    cuerda o cadena de presos
• chain letter    carta (de una cadena)
• chain mail    cota de malla
• chain reaction    reacción en cadena
• chain saw    sierra de cadena, tronzadora
• chain store    sucursal, tienda de una cadena
• chain up    encadenar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kedja, följd, varp (vävn.), röstjärn (sjö.), lantmätarkedja
v. - kedja fast, mäta med kedja

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
链, 束缚, 连锁, 用锁链拴住, 拘禁

idioms:

• chain armor    销子甲
• chain armour    销子甲
• chain gang    铁链锁囚犯
• chain letter    连锁信
• chain mail    锁子甲
• chain reaction    连锁反应
• chain saw    链锯
• chain store    连锁商店
• chain up    锁住

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 鏈, 束縛, 連鎖
v. tr. - 用鎖鏈拴住, 束縛, 拘禁

idioms:

• chain armor    銷子甲
• chain armour    銷子甲
• chain gang    鐵鏈鎖囚犯
• chain letter    連鎖信
• chain mail    鎖子甲
• chain reaction    連鎖反應
• chain saw    鏈鋸
• chain store    連鎖商店
• chain up    鎖住

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 쇠사슬, 연쇄, 굴레
v. tr. - 사슬로 매다, 속박하다

idioms:

• chain up    사슬로 매다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 鎖, ひと続き, 連鎖, 束縛, 拘束
v. - 鎖でつなぐ, 縛り付ける

idioms:

• chain armour    鎖かたびら, チェーンメール
• chain gang    数珠つなぎの囚人
• chain letter    連鎖手紙
• chain mail    鎖かたびら
• chain mail/armor    鎖かたびら
• chain reaction    連鎖反応
• chain saw    チェーンソー
• chain store    チェーンストア
• chain up    繋ぐ
• ship's chain    投鉛台

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سلسله, زنجير (فعل) يزنجر, يقيد, يكبل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שרשרת, מידת אורך, עשרים מטר, תנועה במחול הקוואדריל, כבלים, סדרה, רכס הרים‬
v. tr. - ‮אסר, כבל, ריסן‬

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