link

noun
/ˈlɪŋk//lɪŋk/

Etymology

From Middle English linke, lenke, from a merger of Old English hlenċe, hlenċa (“ring; chainlink”) and Old Norse *hlenkr, hlekkr (“ring; chain”); both from Proto-Germanic *hlankiz (“ring; bond; fettle; fetter”), from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“bendsome, flexible”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng-, *klenk- (“to bend; twist; wind”). Used in English since the 14th century. Related to lank. Cognates Cognate with Low German Lenk (“link”), Danish lænke (“chain; link”), Elfdalian lekk (“link”), Icelandic hlekkur (“link”), Norwegian Bokmål lenke (“chain; link”), Norwegian Nynorsk lenke, lenkje (“chain; link”), Swedish länk (“chain; link”).

  1. inherited from *kleng-
  2. inherited from *hlankaz — “bendsome, flexible
  3. inherited from *hlankiz
  4. derived from *hlenkr
  5. inherited from hlenċe
  6. inherited from linke

Definitions

  1. A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.

    • The mayor’s assistant serves as the link to the media.
    • The link of brotherhood, by which / One common Maker bound me to the kind.
    • And so by double lynkes enchaynde themselues in louers life
  2. One element of a chain or other connected series.

    • The third link of the silver chain needs to be resoldered.
    • The weakest link.
  3. Abbreviation of hyperlink.

    • The link on the page points to the sports scores.
  4. + 25 more definitions
    1. The connection between buses or systems.

      • A by-N-link is composed of N lanes.
    2. A space comprising one or more disjoint knots.

    3. A thin wild bank of land splitting two cultivated patches and often linking two hills.

      • They used formerly to live in caves or huts dug into the side of a bank or "link," and lined with heath or straw.
    4. An individual person or element in a system

      • But know that God is the strongest link.
      • The fuse is the weakest link in the system. As such, the fuse is also the most valuable link in the system.
      • “[…] This is so that nobody can change the way every link must talk about the formula that I taught to make a real Chain of Universal Love and not a Chain of Love of a group or sect.”
    5. Anything doubled and closed like a link of a chain.

      • a link of horsehair
    6. A sausage that is not a patty.

    7. Any one of the several elementary pieces of a mechanism, such as the fixed frame, or a…

      Any one of the several elementary pieces of a mechanism, such as the fixed frame, or a rod, wheel, mass of confined liquid, etc., by which relative motion of other parts is produced and constrained.

    8. Any intermediate rod or piece for transmitting force or motion, especially a short…

      Any intermediate rod or piece for transmitting force or motion, especially a short connecting rod with a bearing at each end; specifically (in steam engines) the slotted bar, or connecting piece, to the opposite ends of which the eccentric rods are jointed, and by means of which the movement of the valve is varied, in a link motion.

    9. The length of one joint of Gunter's chain, being the hundredth part of it, or 7.92…

      The length of one joint of Gunter's chain, being the hundredth part of it, or 7.92 inches, the chain being 66 feet in length.

    10. A bond of affinity, or a unit of valence between atoms

      A bond of affinity, or a unit of valence between atoms; applied to a unit of chemical force or attraction.

    11. The windings of a river

      The windings of a river; the land along a winding stream.

      • 'Dame Foljambe,' said the old man, 'the march of thy tale is like the course of the Wye, seventeen miles of links and windings down a fair valley five miles long. […]'
    12. An introductory cue.

    13. To connect (two or more things).

      • All the tribes and nations that composed it [the Roman Empire] were linked together, not only by the same laws and the same government, but by all the facilities of commodious intercourse, and of frequent communication.
    14. To contain a hyperlink to another page.

      • My homepage links to my wife's.
    15. To supply (someone) with a hyperlink

      To supply (someone) with a hyperlink; to direct by means of a link.

      • Haven't you seen his website? I'll link you to it.
    16. To post a hyperlink to.

      • Stop linking those unfunny comics all the time!
    17. To demonstrate a correlation between (two things).

    18. To combine objects generated by a compiler into a single executable.

    19. To meet with (someone).

      • Linked us, now she don't wanna link them man again / Your ex plays in the Prem but you never see him taking a pen
      • I might link my ting from Barkin'
      • Same old questions, what's your body count? Who were you linkin' before me?
    20. A torch, used to light dark streets.

      • Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches
      • You were coming out of the Italian Opera, ma’am, in white satin and jewels, a blaze of splendour, when I hadn’t a penny to buy a link to light you.’
      • Give me a loan of the link, Dick.
    21. To skip or trip along smartly

      To skip or trip along smartly; to go quickly.

      • On a sudden he was aware of a man linking along at his side. He cried a fine night, and the man replied.
    22. A diminutive of the male given name Lincoln.

    23. A surname.

    24. An unincorporated community in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States

    25. A hamlet in Burrington parish, North Somerset, Somerset, England (OS grid ref ST4759).

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at link. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01link02ideas03idea04essence05nature06technology07mechanism08links

A definitional loop anchored at link. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at link

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA