chain

He wore a gold chain around the neck.

The anchor is connected to the boat with a 100-metre long chain.

en:series of interconnected physical rings or links

A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

a chain of mountains

a chain of ideas, one leading to the next

This led to an unfortunate chain of events.

en:series of interconnected things, concrete or abstract

That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town.

A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.

side chain

When examined, the molecular chain included oxygen and hydrogen.

en:series of atoms, portion of a molecule

(organic chemistry, physical chemistry) A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.

(surveying) A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.

"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:

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.

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:

(mathematics, set theory, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.

(algebraic topology, originally) 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).

(algebraic topology, homological algebra, more generally) An element of a group (or module) in a chain complex.

(British) 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).

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:

en:fetter or bond, literal or figurative

That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.

en:iron hardware on the side of a sailing ship

(nautical, in the plural) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.

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, [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:

Edward H[enry] Knight
w:Edward H. Knight

a chain is only as strong as its weakest link

ketju

surveying: series of interconnected links as a measuring device

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.


chain

You should chain your bicycle to the railings to protect it from being stolen.

(transitive) To fasten something with a chain.

Sometimes I feel like I'm chained to this computer.

She's been chained to her principles since she was 18, it's unlikely you can convince her otherwise.

(figurative) To connect as if with a chain, due to dependence, addiction, or other feelings

(intransitive) To link multiple items together.

(transitive) To secure someone with fetters.

(transitive) To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.

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:

(computing) 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:

(computing) To be chained to another data item.

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:

(transitive) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.

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):

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):

(transitive, computing, rare, associated with Acorn Computers) To load and automatically run (a program).

en-verb

chain (third-person singular simple present chains, present participle chaining, simple past and past participle chained)

chains (present singular third-person)
chaining (participle present)
chained (participle past)
chained (past)

ketjuttaa

computing: to relate data items with a chain of pointers