Etymology From Middle English cheyne, chaine, from Old French chaine, chaene (“chain”), from Latin catēna (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Doublet of catena. Displaced native Middle English rakil and rakent (from Old English racente (“chain”)); see rackan.
A unit of length, exactly equal to 22 yards, which is 4 rods or 100 links, and approximately equal to 20.12 metres; the length of a Gunter's surveying chain; the length of a cricket pitch.
"But it's too far—must be a quarter of a mile—and I've a portmanteau to carry." […] "Garn!" shouted the guard. "Taint ten chain. […]"1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter X, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 177:
We first find an approximation of the chain partition, i.e. a small but not minimum size set of chains which cover all elements of the poset.2003, Jeremy P. Spinrad, Efficient Graph Representations, American Mathematical Society, page 108:
9
Algebraic topology, Mathematics, Sciences, Topology A formal sum of cells in a CW complex of a certain dimension k (in which case the formal sums are called k-chains); a formal sum of simplices or cubes of a certain dimension in a simplical complex or cubical complex (respectively).
10
Algebraic topology, Mathematics, Sciences, TopologyBroadly An element of a group (or module) in a chain complex.
Homological algebra
11
UK 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 pulls out).
12
That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.
the chains of habit
Driven down / To chains of darkness and the undying worm.1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
13
Nautical, TransportIn plural Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
14
A livery collar, a chain of office.
And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords And either lanch his greedie thirſting throat, Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerue For Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
Etymology From Middle English cheyne, chaine, from Old French chaine, chaene (“chain”), from Latin catēna (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Doublet of catena. Displaced native Middle English rakil and rakent (from Old English racente (“chain”)); see rackan.
I miss when Game Of Thrones was wide open, but even then, the writers were chained to a narrative they didn’t yet know the ending of and feared straying too far from.2017 August 13, Brandon Nowalk, “Oldtown offers one last game-changing secret as Game Of Thrones goes behind enemy lines (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:
7
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
You don’t need to maintain state, or partition execution into different objects that then you can chain together (one executes the other on completion — chained continuations).2016 January 15, Mark Papadakis, “Coroutines and Fibers. Why and When”, in Medium:
9
To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
As the line was surveyed - a sufficient length being first chained by a surveyor, who was followed by axemen - trees had to be felled and a certain width maintained, which was specified in the contract, for drays had to follow, and the trees might have fallen upon the line and broken it down at the very outset.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 99:
How do you get one program to chain another? I want to run DrawWorks2 then !Draw but as soon as you run Drawworks2 it finishes the batch file and doesn't go on to the next instruction! Is there a way without loading one of these automatic loaders?1996, Mr D Walsh, “Running two programs from a batch file”, in comp.sys.acorn.misc (Usenet):
You can do LOAD "" or CHAIN "" to load or chain the next program if I remember correctly (it's been a loooong time since I've used a tape on an Acorn!)1998, Juan Flynn, “BBC software transmitted on TV - how to load?”, in comp.sys.acorn.misc (Usenet):
1 more example
Recent versions of AntiSpam no longer use the Config file but have a Settings file instead, so when I updated the Config file to chain SpamStamp it had no effect as it was a redundant file.2006, Richard Porter, “SpamStamp double headers”, in comp.sys.acorn.apps (Usenet):