chain

[ cheyn ]
/ tʃeɪn /

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

to form or make a chain.

Idioms for chain

    drag the chain, Australian Slang. to lag behind or shirk one's fair share of work.
    in the chains, Nautical. standing outboard on the channels or in some similar place to heave the lead to take soundings.

Origin of chain

1250–1300; Middle English chayne < Old French chaeine < Latin catēna fetter; see catena

OTHER WORDS FROM chain

chain·less, adjective chain·like, adjective in·ter·chain, verb (used with object) un·chained, adjective

Definition for chain (2 of 2)

Chain
[ cheyn ]
/ tʃeɪn /

noun

Sir Ernst Boris [urnst, ernst] /ɜrnst, ɛrnst/,1906–79, English biochemist, born in Germany: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1945.

Example sentences from the Web for chain

British Dictionary definitions for chain (1 of 2)

chain
/ (tʃeɪn) /

noun

verb

Word Origin for chain

C13: from Old French chaine, ultimately from Latin; see catena

British Dictionary definitions for chain (2 of 2)

Chain
/ (tʃeɪn) /

noun

Sir Ernst Boris. 1906–79, British biochemist, born in Germany: purified and adapted penicillin for clinical use; with Fleming and Florey shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine 1945

Medical definitions for chain (1 of 2)

chain
[ chān ]

n.

A group of atoms covalently bonded in a spatial configuration like links in a chain.
A linear arrangement of living things such as cells or bacteria.

Medical definitions for chain (2 of 2)

Chain
[ chān ]
Ernst Boris 1906-1979

German-born British biochemist. He shared a 1945 Nobel Prize for isolating and purifying penicillin, discovered in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming.

Scientific definitions for chain (1 of 2)

chain
[ chān ]

A group of atoms, often of the same element, bound together in a line, branched line, or ring to form a molecule.♦ In a straight chain, each of the constituent atoms is attached to other single atoms, not to groups of atoms.♦ In a branched chain, side groups are attached to the chain.♦ In a closed chain, the atoms are arranged in the shape of a ring.

Scientific definitions for chain (2 of 2)

Chain
Sir Ernst Boris 1906-1979

German-born British bacteriologist who, with Howard Florey, developed and purified penicillin in 1939. For this work, they shared a 1945 Nobel Prize with Alexander Fleming, who first discovered the antibiotic in 1928.

Idioms and Phrases with chain

chain