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s the cars in a train; a shaft coupling, which connects the ends of shafts. Box coupling, Chain coupling. See under Box, Chain. -- Coupling box, a coupling shaped like a journal box, for clamping together the ends of two shafts, so that they may revolve together. -- Coupling pin, a pin or bolt used in coupling or joi…

That which curbs, restrains, or subdues; a check or hindbrance; esp., a chain or strap attached to the upper part of the branches of a bit, and capable of being drawn tightly against the lower jaw of the horse. He that before ran in the pastures wild Felt the stiff curb control his angry jaws. Drayton. By these men, re…

e or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of blood; one remove in the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree. In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in the seventh degree according to the civil law. Hallam.…

Resembling a diamond; made of, or abounding in, diamonds; as, a diamond chain; a diamond field.

o constrain or compel; to bind; to distress, torment, or afflict. [Obs.] "Distrained with chains." Chaucer.

A course of notes so running into each other as to form one series or chain, to be sung in one breath to one syllable.

on; to condemn; to consign by a decree or sentence; to sentence; as, a criminal doomed to chains or death. Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls. Dryden.

assing around its periphery; also, the barrel of a hoisting machine, on which the rope or chain is wound.

ted on being severed by the crushing effect produced by the gradual tightening of a steel chain, so that hemorrhage rarely follows.

A mechanical contrivance, usually an endless belt or chain with a series of scoops or buckets, for transferring grain to an upper loft for storage.

ot the mountains of Westmoreland and Cumberland be considered as elongations of these two chains Pinkerton.

Void of design; objectless; as, an endless pursuit. Endless chain, a chain which is made continuous by uniting its two ends. -- Endless screw. (Mech.) See under Screw.

To bind in fetters; to enchain. "Enfettered to her love." Shak.

To chain together; to connect, as by links. Shak.

nuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc. Vast chain of being, which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man. Pope.

That which fastens or holds; especially, (Naut.) a mooring rope, hawser, or chain; -- called, according to its position, a bow, head, quarter, breast, or stern fast; also, a post on a pier around which hawsers are passed in mooring.

To fix firmly; to make fast; to secure, as by a knot, lock, bolt, etc.; as, to fasten a chain to the feet; to fasten a door or window.

to a more equal enterprise. Shak. For fear, in apprehension lest. "For fear you ne'er see chain nor money more." Shak.

A festering or rankling. The fester of the chain their necks. I. Taylor.

A chain or shackle for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or disabled from free and rapid motion; a bond; a shackle. [They] bound him with fetters of brass. Judg. xvi. 21.