Forms: 5 pl. lynx, 5–6 lynk(e, 5–7 linke, 6 lenk, lyncke, 6–7 linck(e, 6– link. [a. ON. *hlenk-r (Icel. hlekk-r, OSw. lænker, mod.Sw. länk, Da. lænke):—OTeut. type *hlaŋkio-z; cogn. w. OE. hlęncan pl., armor, OHG. lancha FLANK, loins, bend of the body (MHG. lanke), whence MHG. gelenke (collective) flexible parts of the body, mod.G. gelenk articulation, joint, link.]
1. One of the series of rings or loops that form a chain. † Also, formerly, pl. chains, fetters.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 606. That no creatur Of lokis nor lynx mycht louss worth a lence.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 1433, in Anglia, IX. 476. Thinkand thairthrow to lok him in his linkis.
1505. Nottingham Rec., III. 100. Duo paria de lenks; duo paria de guyvies de ferro.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxlix. 8. To bynde their kynges in cheynes, & their nobles with lynckes of yron.
1555. Eden, Decades, 163. Two cheynes of golde, wherof the one conteyned viii. lynkes.
a. 1592. H. Smith, Serm. (1637), 763. Sins follow one another like linkes in a Chaine.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. iii. 94. Nor ayre lesse Dungeon, nor strong Linkes of Iron, Can be retentiue to the strength of spirit.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1410. I praise thy resolution, doff these links.
179[?]. Burns, The lass that made the bed to me. Her hair was like the links o’ gowd.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), III. 17. All truths run into one another like the links of a chain.
1816. Byron, Pris. Chillon, xi. My broken chain With links unfasten’d did remain.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, ix. 93. The strength of a chain is no greater than the strength of its first link.
† b. sing. A chain. Also transf. and fig. Obs.
1570. Levins, Manip., 138/14. A linke, chaine, vinculum.
1609. Bible (Douay), Isa. v. 18. Woe unto you that draw iniquitie in cordes of vanitie, and sin as the linke of a wayne.
1704. Swift, Batt. Bks., Misc. (1711), 244. Fasten’d to each other like a Link of Gally-slaves, by a light Chain. Ibid. (1730), Pulteney’s Answ. Walpole, Wks. 1841, II. 430/2. A minister … whose whole management hath been a continued link of ignorance, blunders, and mistakes in every article.
c. One of the divisions, each being a hundredth part, of the chain used in surveying (see CHAIN sb. 9); used as a measure of length.
In Gunter’s chain of 4 poles length (the one in general use) the link is 7.92 inches. In the U. S. engineers and some surveyors use a chain of 100 links of 1 foot each.
1661. S. Partridge, Double Scale Proportion, 42. Let the breadth given be 7 chains, 50 links.
1828. Hutton, Course Math., II. 80. [This] gives 555152 square links, or 5 acres, 2 roods, 8 perches.
d. Short for sleeve-link.
1807. Self Instructor, 120. [Bill of Parcels] Card of eight points crystal links 0l. 14s. 0d.
1895. Army & Navy Coöp. Soc. Price List, Studs, links, solitaires.
2. Something looped, or forming part of a chain-like arrangement. a. A loop; a segment of a cord, etc.; a lock of hair. In Angling, one of the segments of which a hair-line is composed. Mil. (see quot. 18021).
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 3. Be þe wyndas of þi mynde, wyth þis roop made myȝty in thre lynkes schal be turnyd vp þe bokett or þi desyre.
1496. Fysshynge w. Angle (1883), 12. Whan ye haue as many of the lynkys as ye suppose wol suffyse for the length of a lyne: thenne must ye knytte theym togyder wyth a water knotte or elles a duchys knotte.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B., 12. Some made knottes of lynkes endes, Some the stay rope suerly byndes.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. i. 23. Sir, a new linke to the Bucket must needes bee had.
a. 1613. J. Dennys, Secr. Angling, I. xi. B 2 b. The linke that holds your Hooke to hang vpon.
1653. Walton, Angler, iv. 108. The line should not exceed, especially for three or four links towards the hook, I say, not exceed three or four haires.
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict., Links, in the art of war, are distinct reins, or thongs of leather used by the cavalry to link their horses together, when they dismount, that they may not disperse.
1802. Daniel, Rur. Sports, II. 149. In the making lines, every hair in every link should be equally big, round, and even.
a. 1825. Twa Sisters, xix. in Child, Ballads, I. 135/2. You’ll tak three links of my yellow hair.
1880. Plain Hints Needlework, 117. We learn to say a stitch in needlework, a loop or link in knitting.
† b. Applied to the joints of the body. Obs.
c. 1530. Redforde, Play Wit & Sci. (Shaks. Soc.), 8. Thes jontes, thes lynkes, Be ruffe, and halfe rustye.
1818. Hogg, Brownie of Bodsbeck, xii. I. 278. There’s the weight of a millstane on aboon the links o’ my neck. Ibid., xiv. II. 21. He had as mony links an’ wimples in his tail as an eel.
c. One of the divisions of a chain of sausages or black puddings. (Chiefly pl.) Now dial.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 306/1. Lynke, or sawcistre, hilla.
c. 1529. Skelton, E. Rummyng, 443. Some podynges and lynkes.
1611. Cotgr., Andouille, a linke, or chitterling.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 83/1. Links, a kind of Pudding, the skin being filled with Pork Flesh … and tied up at distances.
a. 1791. Grose, Olio (1796), 191. In Suffolk black puddings made in guts are called links.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Chimney-Sweepers. Reserving the lengthier links for the seniors.
d. pl. Windings of a stream; also, the ground lying along such windings. Sc.
a. 1700[?]. in Nimmo, Hist. Stirlingsh. (1777), 440. The lairdship of the bonny Links of Forth, Is better than an Earldom in the North.
17[?]. Rattling Roaring Willie, i. in Scott, Last Minstr., Note lxiv. In the links of Ousenam water They fand him sleeping sound.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. xxx. The Links of Forth shall hear the knell.
1835. W. Irving, Tour Prairies, xxxiii. Crayon Misc. (1863), 183. We wandered for some time among the links made by this winding stream.
3. A connecting part, whether in material or immaterial sense; a thing (occas. a person) serving to establish or maintain a connection; a member of a series or succession; a means of connection or communication. Missing link: see MISSING ppl. a.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 133. A convenient mariage … whiche should be a lincke necessary, to knit together the realme of Scotlande and England.
a. 1575. Gascoigne, Deuise Maske, Posies Flowers, liii. Whose brother had like wise your daughter tane to wife, And so by double lynkes enchaynde themselues in louers life.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 914. I feel The Link of Nature draw me: Flesh of Flesh, Bone of my Bone thou art.
1712. Pope, Spect., No. 408, ¶ 4. Man seems to be placed as the middle Link between Angels and Brutes.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., II. § 1. Being able to see no further than one link in a chain of consequences.
1803. T. Winterbottom, Sierra Leone, I. xii. 202. The connecting link between the homo sapiens and his supposed progenitor the oran outang.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Distant Correspondents. A pun, and its recognitory laugh, must be co-instantaneous…. A moment’s interval, and the link is snapped.
1836. Marryat, Japhet, lvi. I had severed the link between myself and my former condition.
1865. R. W. Dale, Jew. Temp., xx. (1877), 229. Every link in his argument gives way.
1874. L. Stephen, Hours in Library (1892), I. ix. 302. He is a connecting link between two widely different phases of thought.
b. ‘Any intermediate rod or piece transmitting motive power from one part of a machine to another.’ Also = link-motion (in recent Dicts.).
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 30. And E [is] a link to couple the pin A and the crank D together, so that motion may be communicated to the shaft C.
c. Math. (See quot. 1894.)
1866. Cayley, in Coll. Math. Papers (1892), V. 521. The ordinary singularities of a plane curve would thus be the node, the cusp, the link, and the flex.
1874. Sylvester, in Proc. Roy. Instit., VII. 182. First conceive a rhomb or diamond formed by four equal links joined to one another.
1894. Cayley, in Coll. Math. Papers (1897), XIII. 506. It will be convenient to speak of the line joining the two given points as the link.
d. Mus. (See quot.)
1880. Stainer, Composition, § 108. 90. When it is desired to unite two sections by a musical progression of one or more bars,… the added portion is considered as external to the rhythmic form, and has been appropriately termed a link.
† 4. In link: in union or connection. Obs.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xli. (1887), 232. Seeing the soule and bodye ioyne so freindly in lincke.
† 5. (See quot.) Obs.–0
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Link,… Also a thin Plate of Metal to solder with.
6. A machine for linking or joining together the loops of fabrics.
1892. [see LINKER].
7. attrib. and Comb., as link-belt, -chain, -pattern, -word; link-block Steam-engine, the block actuated by the link-motion and giving motion to a valve-stem; link-lever, ‘the reversing lever of a locomotive’ (1875 Knight, Dict. Mech.); link-motion, (a) Steam-engine, a valve-gear for reversing the motion of the engine, etc., consisting of two eccentrics and their rods, which give motion to a slide-valve by means of a ‘link’; (b) Geom., a linkage in which all the points describe definite curves in the same plane or in parallel planes (Cent. Dict.); link plate, a plate with the staple of a lock attached, for fastening down upon a surface; link-staff Surveying, = offset-staff (see OFFSET); link-stud = 1 d; link-structure Math., a linkage or link-work; link-work, (a) work composed of or arranged in links; (b) see quot. 1855; (c) Geom., a system of lines, pivoted together so as to rotate about one another (for Sylvester’s restricted use see quot. 1874); link-worming, protection of a rope by ‘worming’ it with chains (1867 Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.).
1884. Cassell’s Family Mag., Feb., 188/2. An endless *link-belt or chain.
1876. Sci. American, XXXV. 230/1. Improved *Link Block for Locomotives,… an improved adjustable link block, claimed to fit tightly in the link and to wear it equally.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 157. The links are then to be riveted on the pivots, each pivot receiving two of them, and thus holding the hinge together, on the principle of a *link-chain or hinge.
1849–50. Weale, Dict. Terms, *Link-motion, a new apparatus for reversing steam-engines.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., vi. (ed. 2), 211. Starting ahead or astern is effected by link motion.
1877. [see Link-structure].
1887. J. A. Ewing, in Encycl. Brit., XXII. 505/1. In Stephenson’s link-motion—the earliest and still the most usual form—the link is [etc.].
1901. Scotsman, 1 March, 5/5. A *link pattern chain.
1842. J. Done, Tuner’s Comp. (ed. 4), 15. Lock, key, escutcheon, *link plate…. The link plate is let into that part of the case corresponding with the lock.
1828. Hutton, Course Math., II. 59. At every chain length, lay the offset-staff, or *link-staff, down in the slope of the chain.
1877. Kempe, How to draw a straight line, 6. When such a combination is pivoted in any way to a fixed base, the motion of points on it not being necessarily confined to fixed paths, the *link-structure is called a ‘link-work’: a ‘link-work’ in which the motion of every point is in some definite path being … termed a ‘link-motion.’
1881. C. E. Turner, in Macm. Mag., XLIV. 307. Two gold English *link-studs.
1871. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue (1880), § 520. Under the title of *Link-word I comprise all that vague and flitting host of words … commonly called Prepositions and Conjunctions.
1530. Tindale, Ex. xxviii. 14. Thou shalt make hokes off golde and two cheynes off fine golde: *lynkeworke and wrethed.
1855. Ogilvie, Suppl., Link-work, the general term applied in mechanics to that species of gearing by which motions are transmitted by links, and not by wheels or bands.
1874. Sylvester, in Proc. Roy. Instit., VII. 182, note. A link-work consists of an odd number of bars, a linkage of an even number.
