chain

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A connected, flexible series of links, typically of metal, used especially for holding objects together, for restraining, or for transmitting mechanical power.
• noun Such a set of links, often of precious metal and with pendants attached, worn as an ornament or symbol of office.
• noun Football Such a set of links measuring ten yards and attached to a pole at each end, moved up and down the field to indicate necessary yardage for gaining a first down.
• noun A restraining or confining agent or force.
• noun Bonds, fetters, or shackles.
• noun Captivity or oppression; bondage.
• noun A series of closely linked or connected things: synonym: series.
• noun A number of establishments, such as stores, theaters, or hotels, under common ownership or management.
• noun A range of mountains.
• noun Chemistry A series of chemically bonded atoms, especially carbon atoms, which may be arranged in an open, branched, or cyclic structure.
• noun An instrument used in surveying, consisting of 100 linked pieces of iron or steel and measuring 66 feet (20.1 meters).
• noun A similar instrument used in engineering, measuring 100 feet (30.5 meters).
• noun A unit of measurement equal to the length of either of these instruments.
• transitive verb To bind or make fast with a chain or chains.
• transitive verb To restrain or confine as if with chains.
• idiom (pull/yank) To take unfair advantage of someone; deceive or manipulate someone.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To fasten, bind, restrain, or fetter with a chain or chains: as, to chain floating logs together; to chain a dog; to chain prisoners.
• Figuratively
• To unite firmly; link.
• To hold by superior force, moral or physical; keep in bondage or slavery; enthrall; enslave.
• To restrain; hold in check; control.
• To block up or obstruct with a chain, as a passage or the entrance to a harbor.
• noun A connected series of links of metal or other material, serving the purposes of a band, cord, rope, or cable in connecting, confining, restraining, supporting, drawing, transmitting mechanical power, etc., or for ornamental purposes.
• noun Figuratively, that which binds, confines, restrains, fetters, or draws; specifically, in the plural, fetters; bonds; bondage; slavery: as, bound by the chains of evil habit.
• noun In surveying, a measuring instrument, generally consisting of 100 links, each 7.92 inches (see Gunter's chain, below), or, as commonly in the United States, one foot, in length.
• noun In weaving, the warp-threads of a web: so called because they form a long series of links or loops.
• noun A series of things, material or immaterial, linked together; a series, line, or range of things connected or following in succession; a concatenation or coördinate sequence: as, a chain of causes, events, or arguments; a chain of evidence; a chain of mountains or of fortifications.
• noun In chem., a group of atoms of the same kind assumed to be joined to one another by chemical force without the intervention of atoms of a different kind.
• noun pl. Naut., strong bars or plates of iron bolted at the lower end to the ship's side, and at the upper end secured to the iron straps of the wooden blocks called deadeyes, by which the shrouds supporting the masts are extended. Formerly, instead of bars, chains were used; hence the name. Same as chain-plates.
• noun Synonyms See shackle.
• noun A ruff of recurved feathers adorning the neck of some breeds of pigeons, such as the jacobin.
• noun An abbreviation of mountain-chain and volcanic chain.
• noun A collection or continuum which has reference to a certain mode of correspondence such that no one individual or point corresponds to more than one individual or point, this mode of correspondence being thought of as a sort of mapping such that one part of the map may coincide with another, but no part of the collection or continuum mapped is represented twice over on the map.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To fasten, bind, or connect with a chain; to fasten or bind securely, as with a chain.
• transitive verb To keep in slavery; to enslave.
• transitive verb To unite closely and strongly.
• transitive verb (Surveying) To measure with the chain.
• transitive verb To protect by drawing a chain across, as a harbor.
• noun A series of links or rings, usually of metal, connected, or fitted into one another, used for various purposes, as of support, of restraint, of ornament, of the exertion and transmission of mechanical power, etc.
• noun That which confines, fetters, or secures, as a chain; a bond.
• noun A series of things linked together; or a series of things connected and following each other in succession.
• noun (Surv.) An instrument which consists of links and is used in measuring land.
• noun (Naut.) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
• noun (Weaving) The warp threads of a web.
• noun (Mach.) a belt made of a chain; -- used for transmitting power.
• noun a boat fitted up for recovering lost cables, anchors, etc.
• noun (Naut.) A bolt with a chain attached for drawing it out of position.