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Chain vs Jail - What's the difference?

chain | jail |

As nouns the difference between chain and jail

is that chain is a series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal while jail is a place for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody or detention, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.

As verbs the difference between chain and jail

is that chain is to fasten something with a chain while jail is to imprison.

chain

English

(wikipedia chain)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.
    • He wore a gold chain around the neck .
  • A series of interconnected things.
    • a chain of mountains
    a chain of ideas, one leading to the next
    This led to an unfortunate chain of events .
  • A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.
    • That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town .
  • (chemistry) A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.
    • When examined, the molecular chain included oxygen and hydrogen .
  • (surveying) A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.
  • (surveying) A long measuring tape.
  • A unit of length equal to 22 yards. The length of a Gunter's surveying chain. The length of a cricket pitch. Equal to 20.12 metres. Equal to 4 rods. Equal to 100 links.
  • (mathematics, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
  • (British) A sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase (said to be "broken" if a buyer or seller pulls out).
  • That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.
    • the chains of habit
  • * Milton
    • Driven down / To chains of darkness and the undying worm.
  • (nautical, in the plural) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
  • (weaving) The warp threads of a web.
    • (Knight)

    Synonyms

    *

    Derived terms

    * Albert chain * ball and chain * bra chain * chaincase * chain drive * chain gang * chain gun * chain letter * chain lightning * chainlink * chainlink fence * chain mail, chainmail * chainman * chain of command * chain of custody * chain of events * chain of production * chain of thought * chain of title * chain pickerel * chainplate * chain pump * chain reaction * chainring * chain rule * chainsaw, chain saw * chain shot * chain-smoke * chain smoker * chainsmoking, chain-smoking * chain stitch * chain store * chain story * daisy chain, daisy-chain * food chain * green chain * Gunter's chain, Gunter's Chain * heterochain * hogchain * homochain * interchain * intrachain * keychain, key chain * Markov chain * megachain * mountain chain * off the chain * retail chain * side chain, sidechain * signifying chain * snow chain * subchain * supply chain * toolchain * waist chain

    Related terms

    * catena

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fasten something with a chain.
  • To link multiple items together.
  • To secure someone with fetters.
  • To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.
  • (computing) To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
  • (computing) To be chained to another data item.
  • To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
  • To load and automatically run (a program).
  • * 1996 , "Mr D Walsh", Running two programs from a batch file'' (on newsgroup ''comp.sys.acorn.misc )
    • How do you get one program to chain another? I want to run DrawWorks2 then !Draw but as soon as you run Drawworks2 it finishes the batch file and doesn't go on to the next instruction! Is there a way without loading one of these automatic loaders?
  • * 1998 , "Juan Flynn", BBC software transmitted on TV - how to load?'' (on newsgroup ''comp.sys.acorn.misc )
    • You can do LOAD "" or CHAIN "" to load or chain the next program if I remember correctly (it's been a loooong time since I've used a tape on an Acorn!)
  • * 2006 , "Richard Porter", SpamStamp double headers'' (on newsgroup ''comp.sys.acorn.apps )
    • Recent versions of AntiSpam no longer use the Config file but have a Settings file instead, so when I updated the Config file to chain SpamStamp it had no effect as it was a redundant file.

    References

    * * * OED 2nd edition 1989

    External links

    * (commonslite)

    Anagrams

    *

    jail

    English

    Alternative forms

    * gaol

    Noun

  • A place for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody or detention, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 1966 , title = , author= , page = 218 , edition = first , chapter = Part II, section 11 , passage = Taking a shower at the high school, Tommy (the Kitten) Cavanaugh kids Ugly Palmers. "Ugly, if you think the world is coming to an end," he says, "what are you wasting your time here at this jail for? You gonna need American history up there?" }}
  • (uncountable) Confinement in a jail.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 14 , author=Steven Morris , title=Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , work=Guardian citation , page= , passage=He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.}}
  • (horse racing) The condition created by the requirement that a horse claimed in a claiming race not be run at another track for some period of time (usually 30 days).
  • In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.

    • Usage notes

    * (prison) Like many nouns denoting places where people spend time, (term) requires no article after certain prepositions: hence , and so on. The forms (term), (term), and so on do exist, but tend to imply mere presence in the jail, rather than detention there. * Until Monopoly popularised the spelling jail' in the UK and Australia, ' gaol was the standard spelling in these countries.

    Synonyms

    * slammer

    Coordinate terms

    * (place of confinement) big house, hoosegow, prison

    Derived terms

    * jailbait * jailbird * jailbreak * jailer * jail fever * jailhouse * jail sentence

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To imprison.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}

    Synonyms

    * imprison