chainwork

Noun

chainwork (countable and uncountable, plural chainworks)

1. Techniques of looping or linking pieces of metal or another materials in the manner of a chain; objects made using these techniques.
   • and wreathes of chaine worke, for the chapiters which were vpon the top of the pillars:1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 7:17
   • For one of the Bracelets made of Chain-work, we had as much Provision of several Sorts, as would fairly have been worth in England, Fifteen or Sixteen Pounds;1720, Daniel Defoe, Captain Singleton, page 37
2. (countable, dated) A system in which each element is linked to two others in the manner of a chain; a series of interconnected things.
   • The coherence and interdependency in the total chainwork of evidence, and the independent strength of each particular link, is little known to the public.1840, Thomas De Quincey, “The Autobiography of an English Opium-Eater”, in Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume 7, page 767
   • […] the great object to be accomplished is to bring the immense chainwork of Northern railroads into closer communication with the Southern system,1866, Morton Peto, chapter 3, in Resources and Prospects of America, page 289

   Synonyms:

   chain

3. (dated, uncountable) The technique of surveying by measuring distances with a chain.
   • If all this agrees with the field book measurements, the chain work has been correctly done in the field and correctly plotted in the office.1886, W. Davis Haskoll, chapter 2, in Land and Marine Surveying, 2nd edition, page 30
   • It seems incredible that chain work as here described should have played an important part in making national maps and plans.1964, T. W. Birch, chapter 4, in Maps Topographical and Statistical, 2nd edition, pages 30-31