Chain n.
 1. 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.
    [They] put a chain of gold about his neck.   --Dan. v. 29.
 2. That which confines, fetters, or secures, as a chain; a bond; as, the chains of habit.
 Driven down
 To chains of darkness and the undying worm.   --Milton.
 3. A series of things linked together; or a series of things connected and following each other in succession; as, a chain of mountains; a chain of events or ideas.
 4. Surv. An instrument which consists of links and is used in measuring land.
 Note: ☞ One commonly in use is Gunter's chain, which consists of one hundred links, each link being seven inches and ninety-two one hundredths in length; making up the total length of rods, or sixty-six, feet; hence, a measure of that length; hence, also, a unit for land measure equal to four rods square, or one tenth of an acre.
 5. pl. Naut. Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
 6. Weaving The warp threads of a web.
 Chain belt Mach., a belt made of a chain; -- used for transmitting power.
 Chain boat, a boat fitted up for recovering lost cables, anchors, etc.
 Chain bolt (a) Naut. The bolt at the lower end of the chain plate, which fastens it to the vessel's side. (b) A bolt with a chain attached for drawing it out of position.
 Chain bond. See Chain timber.
 Chain bridge, a bridge supported by chain cables; a suspension bridge.
 Chain cable, a cable made of iron links.
 Chain coral Zool., a fossil coral of the genus Halysites, common in the middle and upper Silurian rocks. The tubular corallites are united side by side in groups, looking in an end view like links of a chain. When perfect, the calicles show twelve septa.
 Chain coupling. (a) A shackle for uniting lengths of chain, or connecting a chain with an object. (b) Railroad Supplementary coupling together of cars with a chain.
 Chain gang, a gang of convicts chained together.
 Chain hook Naut., a hook, used for dragging cables about the deck.
 Chain mail, flexible, defensive armor of hammered metal links wrought into the form of a garment.
 Chain molding Arch., a form of molding in imitation of a chain, used in the Normal style.
 Chain pier, a pier suspended by chain.
 Chain pipe Naut., an opening in the deck, lined with iron, through which the cable is passed into the lockers or tiers.
 Chain plate Shipbuilding, one of the iron plates or bands, on a vessel's side, to which the standing rigging is fastened.
 Chain pulley, a pulley with depressions in the periphery of its wheel, or projections from it, made to fit the links of a chain.
 Chain pumps. See in the Vocabulary.
 Chain rule Arith., a theorem for solving numerical problems by composition of ratios, or compound proportion, by which, when several ratios of equality are given, the consequent of each being the same as the antecedent of the next, the relation between the first antecedent and the last consequent is discovered.
 Chain shot Mil., two cannon balls united by a shot chain, formerly used in naval warfare on account of their destructive effect on a ship's rigging.
 Chain stitch. See in the Vocabulary.
 Chain timber. Arch. See Bond timber, under Bond.
 Chain wales. Naut. Same as Channels.
 Chain wheel. See in the Vocabulary.
 Closed chain, Open chain Chem., terms applied to the chemical structure of compounds whose rational formulæ are written respectively in the form of a closed ring (see Benzene nucleus, under Benzene), or in an open extended form.
 Endless chain, a chain whose ends have been united by a link.


 Hook n.
 1. A piece of metal, or other hard material, formed or bent into a curve or at an angle, for catching, holding, or sustaining anything; as, a hook for catching fish; a hook for fastening a gate; a boat hook, etc.
 2. That part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on which a door or gate hangs and turns.
 3. An implement for cutting grass or grain; a sickle; an instrument for cutting or lopping; a billhook.
    Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook.   --Pope.
 4. Steam Engin. See Eccentric, and V-hook.
 5. A snare; a trap. [R.]
 6. A field sown two years in succession. [Prov. Eng.]
 7. pl. The projecting points of the thigh bones of cattle; -- called also hook bones.
 8. Geog. A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end; as, Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
 By hook or by crook, one way or other; by any means, direct or indirect. --Milton. “In hope her to attain by hook or crook.” --Spenser.
 Off the hook, freed from some obligation or difficulty; as, to get off the hook by getting someone else to do the job. [Colloq.]
 Off the hooks, unhinged; disturbed; disordered. [Colloq.] “In the evening, by water, to the Duke of Albemarle, whom I found mightly off the hooks that the ships are not gone out of the river.” --Pepys.
 On one's own hook, on one's own account or responsibility; by one's self. [Colloq. U.S.] --Bartlett.
 To go off the hooks, to die. [Colloq.] --Thackeray.
 Bid hook, a small boat hook.
 Chain hook. See under Chain.
 Deck hook, a horizontal knee or frame, in the bow of a ship, on which the forward part of the deck rests.
 Hook and eye, one of the small wire hooks and loops for fastening together the opposite edges of a garment, etc.
 Hook bill Zool., the strongly curved beak of a bird.
 Hook ladder, a ladder with hooks at the end by which it can be suspended, as from the top of a wall.
 Hook motion Steam Engin., a valve gear which is reversed by V hooks.
 Hook squid, any squid which has the arms furnished with hooks, instead of suckers, as in the genera Enoploteuthis and Onychteuthis.
 Hook wrench, a wrench or spanner, having a hook at the end, instead of a jaw, for turning a bolthead, nut, or coupling.