chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

is a series of connected links which are typically made of metal. Chain may also refer to:

Accessories and apparel

Chain mail Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

, a type of armor made of interlocking chain links * Neck chain (or necklace), a type of jewelry which is worn around the neck

Places

Széchenyi Chain Bridge The Széchenyi Chain Bridge ( hu, Széchenyi lánchíd ) is a chain bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark a ...

, a suspension bridge that spans River Danube between Buda and Pest *

Chain Bridge (Potomac River) The Chain Bridge is a viaduct which crosses the Potomac River at Little Falls in Washington, D.C. The steel girder bridge carries close to 22,000 cars a day. It connects Washington with affluent sections of Arlington and Fairfax counties in Vi ...

, a bridge across the Potomac River at Little Falls in Washington, D.C. *

Chains (geological site) The Chains is the name given to the north-west plateau of Exmoor, Somerset, England. This plateau lies above the contour line, and includes the source of the River Barle. It lies roughly within a triangle of land between Simonsbath, Challacombe ...

, a geological site on the north-west plateau of Exmoor, Somerset, England * Union Chain Bridge, a bridge between Northumberland, England and Berwickshire, Scotland

People with the name

Ernst Chain Sir Ernst Boris Chain (19 June 1906 – 12 August 1979) was a German-born British biochemist best known for being a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin. Life and career Chain was born in Be ...

(1906–1979), Nobel Prize-winning chemist famed for his isolation of penicillin * John T. Chain Jr. (1934–2021), retired U.S. Air Force general

Arts, entertainment, and media

Films and television

* ''Chain'' (film), a 2004 film written and directed by Jem Cohen * ''Chains'' (film), a 1949 Italian melodrama film * ''Chains'', a short film starring TNA wrestler

Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler, Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 100 kg, Olympic gold medalist in American freestyle wrestling, and former Collegiate wrestling, ...

* Chains (''Blackadder''), a 1986 episode of the British sitcom ''Blackadder II'' * ''Chains of Love'' (TV series), an American dating game show adapted from a Dutch television series

Literature

* ''Chains'' (novel), a 2008 historical-fiction novel by Laurie Halse Anderson * ''Chains'' (play), a 1909 play by Elizabeth Baker * '' Chain (play)'', a 1992 play by Pearl Cleage

Music

Chain (band) Chain are an Australian blues band formed as The Chain in late 1968 with a line-up including guitarist and vocalist Phil Manning and lead vocalist Wendy Saddington. Saddington left in May 1969 and in September 1970 Matt Taylor joined on lead ...

, an Australian blues rock band active from the 1960s to the present

Albums

* ''Chain'' (Bonnie Pink EP), 2008 *

Chain (NCT 127 EP) ''Chain'' is the debut Japanese extended play (fourth overall) by South Korean boy band NCT 127, the multi-national and second sub-unit of NCT. The five-track extended play was released on May 23, 2018 by their Japanese record label Avex Trax. W ...

, 2018 * ''Chain'' (KAT-TUN album), 2012 * ''Chain'' (

Paul Haig Paul Haig (born 4 September 1960)Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 386-7 is a Scottish indie musician, singer and songwriter. He was originally a member of post-punk band Josef K, active between 1979 ...

album), 1989 * ''Chain'' (Pylon album), 1990 * ''Chains'' (album), by Yōko Oginome, 1997

Songs

* "Chains" (DLT song), 1996 * "Chains" (Nick Jonas song), 2014 * "Chains" (Patty Loveless song), 1990 * "Chains" (Cookies song), 1962, covered by The Beatles * "Chains" (Tina Arena song), 1994 * "Chains" (Usher song), 2015 * "The Chain" (Fleetwood Mac song), 1977 * "Chains", a song by Chicago from the 1982 album ''

Chicago 16 ''Chicago 16'' is the thirteenth studio album by the American band Chicago, released on June 7, 1982. It is considered their "comeback" album because it was their first album to go platinum since 1978's ''Hot Streets.'' It made it into the ''Bi ...

'' * "Chain", a song by the Fire Theft from their 2003 self-titled album

Business and economics

Chain (real estate) A chain, when used in reference to the process of buying or selling a house, is a sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase. The term is commonly used in the UK. It is an example of a ...

, a group of buyers/sellers that are linked together *

Chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part. Milit ...

, the line of authority and responsibility along which orders are passed *

Chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

, a retail shop outlets which share a brand and central management *

Chained dollars Chained dollars is a method of adjusting real dollar amounts for inflation over time, to allow the comparison of figures from different years. The U.S. Department of Commerce introduced the chained-dollar measure in 1996. It generally reflects doll ...

, used to express real dollar amounts adjusted over time for inflation *

Cinema chain A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

, or movie chain *

Cold chain A cold chain is a low temperature-controlled supply chain network. An unbroken cold chain is an uninterrupted series of refrigerated production, storage and distribution activities, along with associated equipment and logistics, which maintain qu ...

, a temperature-controlled supply chain *

Fast food chain A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...

Hotel chain A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

Restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

Supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...

, a coordinated system of organizations, people, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer *

Value chain A value chain is a progression of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product (i.e., good and/or service) to the end customer. The concept comes through business management and was firs ...

, a management concept first described by Michael Porter

Mathematics

* Chain (ordered set), a totally ordered set, usually a subset of a given partially ordered set *

Chain (algebraic topology) In algebraic topology, a -chain is a formal linear combination of the -cells in a cell complex. In simplicial complexes (respectively, cubical complexes), -chains are combinations of -simplices (respectively, -cubes), but not necessarily connected ...

, a formal linear combination of ''k''-simplices *

Chain complex In mathematics, a chain complex is an algebraic structure that consists of a sequence of abelian groups (or module (mathematics), modules) and a sequence of group homomorphism, homomorphisms between consecutive groups such that the image (mathemati ...

, a generalization of the algebraic topology construct to homological algebra *

Chain rule In calculus, the chain rule is a formula that expresses the derivative of the composition of two differentiable functions and in terms of the derivatives of and . More precisely, if h=f\circ g is the function such that h(x)=f(g(x)) for every , ...

, a tool for differentiation in calculus * Chain sequence, numbers in the mathematical study of continued fractions *

Conway chained arrow notation Conway chained arrow notation, created by mathematician John Horton Conway, is a means of expressing certain extremely large numbers. It is simply a finite sequence of positive integers separated by rightward arrows, e.g. 2\to3\to4\to5\to6. As wit ...

, a way of expressing exponents using arrows *

Jordan chain In linear algebra, a generalized eigenvector of an n\times n matrix A is a vector which satisfies certain criteria which are more relaxed than those for an (ordinary) eigenvector. Let V be an n-dimensional vector space; let \phi be a linear map ...

, a sequence of linearly independent generalized eigenvectors of descending rank *

Markov chain A Markov chain or Markov process is a stochastic model describing a sequence of possible events in which the probability of each event depends only on the state attained in the previous event. Informally, this may be thought of as, "What happe ...

, a discrete-time stochastic process with the Markov property *

Pseudo-arc In general topology, the pseudo-arc is the simplest nondegenerate hereditarily indecomposable continuum. The pseudo-arc is an arc-like homogeneous continuum, and played a central role in the classification of homogeneous planar continua. R. H. Bi ...

, which has at its heart the concept of a chain

Mechanics, engineering, and implements

Bar-link chain A bar-link chain, also called a block-and-bar chain or a block chain, is a mechanical drive chain. It is composed of side plates, where each plate straddles one end of a block and is connected to the block with a pin going through a hole at one ...

(or block chain), a mechanical drive chain *

Bicycle chain A bicycle chain is a roller chain that transfers power from the pedals to the drive-wheel of a bicycle, thus propelling it. Most bicycle chains are made from plain carbon or alloy steel, but some are nickel-plated to prevent rust, or simply ...

, a roller chain that transfers power from the pedals to the drive-wheel of a bicycle *

Buffers and chain coupler Buffers and chain couplers (also known as "buffers and screw", "screw", "screwlink", and "English" couplers) are the de facto UIC standard railway stock coupling used in the EU and UK, and on some surviving former colonial railways, such as in ...

, a railway device *

Catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superficia ...

(or chain), the shape of a hanging flexible cable when supported at its ends and acted upon by a uniform gravitational force *

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

and

Chain Home Low Chain Home Low (CHL) was the name of a British early warning radar system operated by the RAF during World War II. The name refers to CHL's ability to detect aircraft flying at altitudes below the capabilities of the original Chain Home (CH) rada ...

, early British RDF (radar) systems of the WWII era *

Chain tool 400px, A typical chain tool. With a chain placed on the central sprocket, the screw is turned until a pin is pushed from the linkage A chain tool is a small mechanical device used to "break" a bicycle chain in such a way that it can be mended wi ...

, a small mechanical device used to "break" a bicycle chain in such a way that it could be mended with the same tool *

Conveyor chain A conveyor chain is chain that has been designed specifically for chain conveyor systems. It consists of a series of journal bearings that are held together by constraining link plates. Each bearing consists of a pin and a bush on which the ch ...

, a chain that conveys items in chain conveyor systems *

Drive chain Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...

, a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another * Print chain on a chain printer *

Roller chain Roller chain or bush roller chain is the type of chain drive most commonly used for transmission of mechanical power on many kinds of domestic, industrial and agricultural machinery, including conveyors, wire- and tube-drawing machines, printi ...

, most commonly used for transmission of mechanical power *

Self-lubricating chain Self-lubricating chains, also referred to as lube-free chains, are commonly found in both roller chain ( ANSI Standards, British Standards, and DIN Standards) and conveyor chain varieties, with specialty self-lubricating chains also available. Thes ...

, to eliminate the need for further lubrication *

Snow chains Snow chains, or tire chains, are devices fitted to the tires of vehicles to provide increased traction when driving through snow and ice. Snow chains attach to the drive wheels of a vehicle or special systems deploy chains which swing under ...

or tire chains, devices fitted to the tires of vehicles to provide maximum traction *

Timing chain In a piston engine, either a timing belt (also called a ''cambelt'') or timing chain or set of timing gears is used to synchronize the rotation of the crankshaft and the camshaft. This synchronisation ensures that the engine's valves open and clo ...

, part of an internal combustion engine

Science

Chemistry

Chain reaction A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events. Chain reactions are one way that syst ...

, a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions *

Ideal chain Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considered ...

, a mathematical model of polymer folding *

Polymer chain A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...

, structure of a polymer *

Worm-like chain The worm-like chain (WLC) model in polymer physics is used to describe the behavior of polymers that are semi-flexible: fairly stiff with successive segments pointing in roughly the same direction, and with persistence length within a few orders o ...

, a model in polymer physics used to describe the behavior of semi-flexible polymers

Other uses in science

Electron transport chain An electron transport chain (ETC) is a series of protein complexes and other molecules that transfer electrons from electron donors to electron acceptors via redox reactions (both reduction and oxidation occurring simultaneously) and couples th ...

, a sequence of chemical reactions yielding the transport of an electron through a membrane *

Food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...

, a hierarchical or recursive list of predators and prey

Sequences

Geological features

Archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

, a chain of islands *

Crater chain A crater chain is a line of craters along the surface of an astronomical body. The descriptor term for crater chains is catena , plural catenae (Latin for "chain"), as specified by the International Astronomical Union's rules on planetary nome ...

, a line of craters on the surface of an astronomical body *

Mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

, a chain of hills or mountains

Other sequences

Chain bridge A chain bridge is a historic form of suspension bridge for which chains or eyebars were used instead of wire ropes to carry the bridge deck. A famous example is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest. Construction types are, as for other suspens ...

, type of suspension bridge * Chain, Planetary, a chain of globes serving as fields of evolution in theosophical cosmology *

Chain crew In gridiron football, the chain crew (commonly known as the "chain gang") is a crew that manages signal poles on one of the sidelines. There are three primary signal poles: the "rear rod" that marks the beginning of the current set of downs, the ...

, crew that manages signal poles in gridiron football *

Chain gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was no ...

, group of prisoners chained together as a form of punishment *

Chain letter A chain letter is a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies and pass them on to a certain number of recipients. The "chain" is an exponentially growing pyramid (a tree graph) that cannot be sustained indefinite ...

, a message that attempts to induce the recipient to make a number of copies of the message and then pass them on to one or more new recipients *

Chain of events A chain of events is a number of actions and their effects that are contiguous and linked together that results in a particular outcome. In the physical sciences, chain reactions are a primary example. Determinism ''Determinism'' is the philoso ...

, a number of actions and their effects that are linked together * Chain of thought, a continuous thought process where ideas follow one from the other *

Chain smoking Chain smoking is the practice of smoking several cigarettes in succession, sometimes using the ember of a finished cigarette to light the next. The term chain smoker often also refers to a person who smokes relatively constantly, though not ne ...

, practice of smoking several cigarettes/cigars in succession *

Chain stitch Chain stitch is a sewing and embroidery technique in which a series of looped stitches form a chain-like pattern. Chain stitch is an ancient craft – examples of surviving Chinese chain stitch embroidery worked in silk thread have been dated ...

, in sewing and embroidery, a series of looped stitches that form a chain *

Chaining Chaining is a type of intervention that aims to create associations between behaviors in a behavior chain. A behavior chain is a sequence of behaviors that happen in a particular order where the outcome of the previous step in the chain serves as ...

, a technique from applied behavioral analysis for teaching complicated tasks by breaking them into simpler steps *

Daisy chain (disambiguation) Daisy chain may refer to: * Daisy chain, a garland created from daisy flowers * Daisy chain (climbing), a type of strap * Daisy chain (electrical engineering) In electrical and electronic engineering, a daisy chain is a wiring scheme in whi ...

, various meanings *

Hudson River Chains The Hudson River Chains were a series of chain booms constructed across the Hudson River at West Point by Continental Army forces from 1776 to 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. These served as defenses preventing British naval vessels ...

, one of several chains used in blockades of the Hudson River *

Human chain (politics) A human chain is a form of demonstration in which people link arms or hands as a show of political solidarity. The chains can involve thousands of people, with the world record being claimed in 2020 by Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eas ...

, a form of protest * Signifying chain, in semiotics, an interlocking system of signifiers

Measurement

Chain (unit) The chain is a unit of length equal to 66 feet (22 yards). It is subdivided into 100 links (PDF) or 4 rods. There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. In metric terms, it is 20.1168 m long. By extension, chainage (run ...

, a unit of length *

Gunter's chain Gunter's chain (also known as Gunter’s measurement) is a distance measuring device used for surveying. It was designed and introduced in 1620 by English clergyman and mathematician Edmund Gunter (1581–1626). It enabled plots of land to be a ...

, a unit of measurement *

New York City Subway chaining New York City Subway chaining is a method to precisely specify locations along the New York City Subway lines. It measures distances from a fixed point, called ''chaining zero'', following the twists and turns of the railroad line, so that the d ...

, method to specify locations along the New York City Subway lines

Other uses

* Chain (caste), a cultivating and fishing caste found in India *

Chains (nautical) The chains were small platforms, built on either side of the hull of a ship, used to provide a wide purchase for the shrouds, and to assist in the practice of depth sounding. The chains provided a platform for a 'leadsman', the sailor assigned ...

, small platforms on the sides of ships *

Fetter (Buddhism) In Buddhism, a mental fetter, chain or bond (Pāli: ''samyojana'', Sanskrit: संयोजना, ''saṃyojana'') shackles a sentient being to sasāra, the cycle of lives with dukkha. By cutting through all fetters, one attains nibbāna (Pa ...

(mental chain), a deeply rooted mental attachment preventing one from achieving liberation from suffering