Word: link Part of Speech: noun 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”). Pronunciation: /ˈlɪŋk/, [ˈlɪŋk], /ˈliŋk/, [ˈliŋk] ~ [ˈlɪ̝ŋk], /ˈlæŋk/ 1. A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas. Example: The mayor’s assistant serves as the link to the media. Example: The link of brotherhood, by which / One common Maker bound me to the kind. 2. One element of a chain or other connected series. Example: The third link of the silver chain needs to be resoldered. Example: The weakest link. 3. Abbreviation of hyperlink. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of Example: The link on the page points to the sports scores. 4. The connection between buses or systems. Example: A by-N-link is composed of N lanes. 5. A space comprising one or more disjoint knots. 6. A thin wild bank of land splitting two cultivated patches and often linking two hills. Example: They used formerly to live in caves or huts dug into the side of a bank or "link," and lined with heath or straw. 7. An individual person or element in a system. Labels: figuratively Example: But know that God is the strongest link. Example: The fuse is the weakest link in the system. As such, the fuse is also the most valuable link in the system. 8. Anything doubled and closed like a link of a chain. Example: a link of horsehair 9. A sausage that is not a patty. 10. 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. 11. 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. 12. 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. 13. A bond of affinity, or a unit of valence between atoms; applied to a unit of chemical force or attraction. 14. The windings of a river; the land along a winding stream. Labels: in-plural Example: '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. […]' 15. An introductory cue. Example: Too much talk on a music-based station can cause listeners who tune in for the music to go elsewhere. […] 'Some people will say “your link has to be 45 seconds long” but I don't do that,' explains the programme controller of Trent FM, Dick Stone.