CHAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Chain mean? 

• CHAIN (noun)
  The noun CHAIN has 10 senses:

1. a series of things depending on each other as if linked together

2. (chemistry) a series of linked atoms (generally in an organic molecule)

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

4. (business) 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)

8. a series of hills or mountains

9. a linked or connected series of objects

10. a necklace made by stringing objects together

  Familiarity information: CHAIN used as a noun is familiar.

• CHAIN (verb)
  The verb CHAIN has 2 senses:

1. connect or arrange into a chain by linking

2. fasten or secure with chains

  Familiarity information: CHAIN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHAIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A series of things depending on each other as if linked together

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

chain; concatenation

Context example:

a complicated concatenation of circumstances

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

series (similar things placed in order or happening one after another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chain"):

catena (a chain of connected ideas or passages or objects so arranged that each member is closely related to the preceding and following members (especially a series of patristic comments elucidating Christian dogma))

daisy chain ((figurative) a series of associated things or people or experiences)

Derivation:

catenate; catenulate (arrange in a series of rings or chains, as for spores)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(chemistry) a series of linked atoms (generally in an organic molecule)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

chain; chemical chain

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

building block; unit (a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chain"):

long-chain molecule; long chain ((chemistry) a relatively long chain of atoms in a molecule)

open chain (a chain of atoms in a molecule whose ends are not joined to form a ring)

closed chain; ring ((chemistry) a chain of atoms in a molecule that forms a closed loop)

Holonyms ("chain" is a part of...):

molecule ((physics and chemistry) the simplest structural unit of an element or compound)

Derivation:

catenate; catenulate (arrange in a series of rings or chains, as for spores)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

ligament (any connection or unifying bond)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chain"):

anchor chain; anchor rope (the chain or rope that attaches an anchor to a vessel)

bicycle chain (a chain that transmits the power from the pedals to the rear wheel of a bicycle)

snow chain; tire chain (chain attached to wheels to increase traction on ice or snow)

pull chain (a chain (usually with a handle at the end) that is pulled in order to operate some mechanism (e.g. to flush a toilet))

chatelaine (a chain formerly worn at the waist by women; for carrying a purse or bunch of keys etc.)

fob; watch chain; watch guard (short chain or ribbon attaching a pocket watch to a man's vest)

paper chain (a chain made of loops of colored paper; used to decorate a room)

Holonyms ("chain" is a part of...):

bicycle; bike; cycle; wheel (a wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals)

chain tongs (a pipe wrench used for turning large pipes; an adjustable chain circles the pipe with its ends connected to the head whose teeth engage the pipe)

chain printer (an impact printer that carries the type slugs by links of a revolving chain)

Derivation:

chain (fasten or secure with chains)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(business) a number of similar establishments (stores or restaurants or banks or hotels or theaters) under one ownership

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern (a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it)

Meronyms (members of "chain"):

chain store (one of a chain of retail stores under the same management and selling the same merchandise)

Domain category:

business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chain"):

apparel chain (a chain of clothing stores)

discount chain (a chain of discount stores)

restaurant chain (a chain of restaurants)

retail chain (a chain of retail stores)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Anything that acts as a restraint

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

constraint; restraint (a device that retards something's motion)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A unit of length

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Meronyms (parts of "chain"):

pace; yard (a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride)

link (a unit of length equal to 1/100 of a chain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chain"):

Gunter's chain (a unit of length (22 yards))

engineer's chain (a unit of length (100 ft))

nautical chain (a nautical unit of length (15 ft))

Sense 7

Meaning:

British biochemist (born in Germany) who isolated and purified penicillin, which had been discovered in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming (1906-1979)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Chain; Ernst Boris Chain; Sir Ernst Boris Chain

Instance hypernyms:

biochemist (someone with special training in biochemistry)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A series of hills or mountains

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

chain; chain of mountains; mountain chain; mountain range; range; range of mountains

Context example:

the plains lay just beyond the mountain range

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

formation; geological formation ((geology) the geological features of the earth)

Meronyms (parts of "chain"):

mountain pass; notch; pass (the location in a range of mountains of a geological formation that is lower than the surrounding peaks)

massif (a block of the earth's crust bounded by faults and shifted to form peaks of a mountain range)

Instance hyponyms:

Hindu Kush; Hindu Kush Mountains (a mountain range extending to the west of the Himalayas)

Caucasus; Caucasus Mountains (the mountain range in Caucasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea that forms part of the traditional border between Europe and Asia)

Karakoram; Karakoram Range; Karakorum Range; Mustagh; Mustagh Range (a mountain range in northern Kashmir; an extension of the Hindu Kush; contains the 2nd highest peak)

Kuenlun; Kuenlun Mountains; Kunlan Shan; Kunlun; Kunlun Mountains (a mountain range in western China that extends eastward from the Indian border for 1000 miles)

Mesabi Range (a range of hills in northeastern Minnesota where rich iron ore deposits were discovered in 1887)

Mount Carmel (a mountain range in northwestern Israel near the Mediterranean coast)

Nan Ling (a mountain range in southeastern China running generally east to west)

Ozark Mountains; Ozark Plateau; Ozarks (an area of low mountains in northwestern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma)

Pamir Mountains; the Pamirs (a mountain range in central Asia that is centered in Tajikistan but extends into Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan and Pakistan and western China)

Pyrenees (a chain of mountains between France and Spain)

Rhodope Mountains (a mountain range in the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe; extends along the border between Greece and Bulgaria)

Rockies; Rocky Mountains (the chief mountain range of western North America; extends from British Columbia to northern New Mexico; forms the continental divide)

Sacramento Mountains (mountain range in New Mexico to the east of the Rio Grande)

San Juan Mountains (a mountain range in southwestern Colorado that is part of the Rocky Mountains)

Sayan Mountains (a range of mountains in southern Siberia to the west of Lake Baikal; contain important mineral deposits)

Selkirk Mountains (a range of the Rocky Mountains in southeastern British Columbia)

sierra (a range of mountains (usually with jagged peaks and irregular outline))

Sierra Madre Occidental (a mountain range in northwestern Mexico that runs south from Arizona parallel to the Pacific coastline)

Sierra Madre Oriental (a mountain range in northeastern Mexico the runs parallel to the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico)

High Sierra; Sierra Nevada; Sierra Nevada Mountains (a mountain range in eastern California; contains Mount Whitney)

Sierra Nevada (a mountain range in southern Spain along the Mediterranean coast to the east of Granada)

St. Elias Mountains; St. Elias Range (a range of mountains between Alaska and the Yukon territory)

Taconic Mountains (a range of the Appalachian Mountains along the eastern border of New York with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont)

Teton Range (a mountain range in northwest Wyoming; contains the Grand Teton)

Tien Shan; Tyan Shan (a major mountain range of central Asia; extends 1,500 miles)

Transylvanian Alps (a range of the southern Carpathian Mountains extending across central Romania)

Tyrolean Alps (a popular tourist area in the Tyrol)

Ural Mountains; Urals (a mountain range in western Russia extending from the Arctic to the Caspian Sea; forms part of the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia)

Guadalupe Mountains (a mountain range in southern New Mexico and western Texas; the southern extension of the Sacramento Mountains)

Adirondack Mountains; Adirondacks (a mountain range in northeastern New York State; a popular resort area)

Admiralty Range (mountains in Antarctica to the north of Victoria Land)

Alaska Range (a mountain range in south central Alaska; contains Mount McKinley)

Alleghenies; Allegheny Mountains (the western part of the Appalachian Mountains; extending from northern Pennsylvania to southwestern Virginia)

Alps; the Alps (a large mountain system in south-central Europe; scenic beauty and winter sports make them a popular tourist attraction)

Altai Mountains; Altay Mountains (a mountain range in central Asia that extends a thousand miles from Kazakhstan eastward into western Mongolia and northern China)

Andes (a mountain range in South America running 5000 miles along the Pacific coast)

Apennines (a mountain range extending the length of the Italian peninsula)

Appalachian Mountains; Appalachians (a mountain range in the eastern United States extending from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico; a historic barrier to early westward expansion of the United States)

Atlas Mountains (a mountain range in northern Africa between the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert; extends from southwestern Morocco to northern Tunisia)

Australian Alps (a range of mountains in Australia that forms the southern end of the Great Dividing Range)

Balkan Mountain Range; Balkan Mountains; Balkans (the major mountain range of Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula)

Berkshire Hills; Berkshires (a low mountain range in western Massachusetts; a resort area)

Blue Ridge; Blue Ridge Mountains (a range of the Appalachians extending from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia)

Himalaya; Himalaya Mountains; Himalayas (a mountain range extending 1500 miles on the border between India and Tibet; this range contains the world's highest mountain)

Green Mountains (a range of the Appalachian Mountains that extends from south to north through Vermont)

Great Smoky Mountains (part of the Appalachians between North Carolina and Tennessee)

Eastern Highlands; Great Dividing Range (a mountain range running along the eastern coast of Australia)

Dolomite Alps (an eastern range of the Alps in northeastern Italy famous for their dolomitic limestone)

Cumberland Mountains; Cumberland Plateau (the southwestern part of the Appalachians)

Coast Mountains; Coast Range (a string of mountain ranges along the Pacific coast of North America from southeastern Alaska to Lower California)

Catskill Mountains; Catskills (a range of the Appalachians to the west of the Hudson in southeastern New York; includes many popular resort areas)

Cascade Mountains; Cascade Range; Cascades (a mountain range in the northwestern United States extending through Washington and Oregon and northern California; a part of the Coast Range)

Carpathian Mountains; Carpathians (a mountain range in central Europe that extends from Slovakia and southern Poland southeastward through western Ukraine to northeastern Romania; a popular resort area)

Cantabrian Mountains (a range of mountains in northern Spain along the coast of the Bay of Biscay)

Black Hills (mountains in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming; sacred to the Sioux (whites settling in the Black Hills led to the Battle of Little Bighorn); site of Mount Rushmore)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A linked or connected series of objects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

a chain of daisies

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

necklace (jewelry consisting of a cord or chain (often bearing gems) worn about the neck as an ornament (especially by women))

Sense 10

Meaning:

A necklace made by stringing objects together

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

chain; strand; string

Context example:

a strand of pearls

Hypernyms ("chain" is a kind of...):

necklace (jewelry consisting of a cord or chain (often bearing gems) worn about the neck as an ornament (especially by women))

• CHAIN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they chain    ... he / she / it chains   
Past simple: chained   
Past participle: chained   
-ing form: chaining   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Connect or arrange into a chain by linking

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "chain" is one way to...):

arrange; set up (put into a proper or systematic order)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "chain"):

concatenate (combine two strings to form a single one)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fasten or secure with chains

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

Chain the chairs together

Hypernyms (to "chain" is one way to...):

fasten; fix; secure (cause to be firmly attached)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something PP

Antonym:

unchain (remove the chains from)

Derivation:

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

 Context examples 

Typically small, circular, intronless, and maternally inherited, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the multicopy deoxyribonucleic acid genome of mitochondria, intracellular organelles responsible for vital respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation reactions in higher eukaryotes.

(Mitochondrial DNA, NCI Thesaurus)

CPTI exchanges carnitine for the CoA attached to long chain fatty acids to form a fatty acid-carnitine conjugate (RCO-carnitine).

(Mitochondrial Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

But one of the seamen prevented me, and having informed the captain, I was chained to my cabin.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The electron transport chain resides in the inner mitochondrial membrane.

(Mitochondrial Membrane, NCI Thesaurus)

A recombinant monoclonal antibody in which the heavy and light chain variable domains mimic a specific epitope of the tumor-associated protein carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).

(Monoclonal Antibody 3H1 Anti-Idiotype Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

The HD37 component binds to CD19, a B-cell restricted antigen, thereby targeting the delivery of the cytotoxic ricin A chain to B-cells.

(Monoclonal Antibody HD37-SMPT-dgA Immunotoxin, NCI Thesaurus)

The goldsmith was in his workshop making a gold chain, when he heard the song of the bird on his roof.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3-II proteins (LC3-II) are products of the autophagy-dependent processing of microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3 family proteins (LC3).

(Microtubule-Associated Proteins 1A/1B Light Chain 3-II, NCI Thesaurus)

Microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3A (121 aa, ~14 kDa) is encoded by the human MAP1LC3A gene.

(Microtubule-Associated Proteins 1A/1B Light Chain 3A, NCI Thesaurus)

He opened the kit bag and oiled his wheel, putting graphite on the chain and adjusting the bearings.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)