chain
pronunciation
How to pronounce chain in British English:
UK [tʃeɪn]
How to pronounce chain in American English:
US [tʃeɪn]
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- Noun:
- a series of things depending on each other as if linked together
- (chemistry) a series of linked atoms (generally in an organic molecule)
- a series of (usually metal) rings or links fitted into one another to make a flexible ligament
- a number of similar establishments (stores or restaurants or banks or hotels or theaters) under one ownership
- anything that acts as a restraint
- a unit of length
- a series of hills or mountains
- metal shackles; for hands or legs
- a necklace made by a stringing objects together
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- Verb:
- connect or arrange into a chain by linking
- fasten or secure with chains
Word Origin
- chain
- chain: [13] Chain is a direct descendant of Latin catēna ‘chain’, source also of English concatenate [16], literally ‘link together in a chain’. This passed into Old French as chaeine, a later from of which, chaine, was adopted by English. The Latin word’s antecedents are not known.=> concatenate
- chain (n.)
- 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"). Figurative 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] Chain smoker is attested from 1886, originally of Bismarck (who smoked cigars), thus probably a loan-translation of German Kettenraucher. Chain-smoking is from 1930.
- chain (v.)
- late 14c., "to bar with a chain; to put (someone) in chains," also "to link things together," from chain (n.). Related: Chained; chaining.
Example
- 1. Already china is moving up the value added chain .
- 2. The chain pulled out in march of last year .
- 3. The approach emulates the attention to design detail that took the seattle coffee-store chain worldwide .
- 4. After several days you start building a chain .
- 5. She thinks he died because she let him wear the chain .