link

Noun (1)

link (plural links)

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.1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   connection

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. The connection between buses or systems.
   • A by-N-link is composed of N lanes.
4. A space comprising one or more disjoint knots.
5. (Sussex) 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.2008, Richard John King, A Handbook for Travellers in Kent and Sussex
6. (figuratively) An individual person or element in a system.
   • But know that God is the strongest link.2010, James O. Young, My Sheep Know My Voice: anointed poetry, AuthorHouse, page 32
   • The fuse is the weakest link in the system. As such, the fuse is also the most valuable link in the system.2010, William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler, Universal Principles of Design, RockPort, page 262
7. Anything doubled and closed like a link of a chain.
   • a link of horsehair1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC
8. A sausage that is not a patty.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. A bond of affinity, or a unit of valence between atoms; applied to a unit of chemical force or attraction.
13. (in plural) 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. […]'1822, Allan Cunningham, “The King of the Peak”, in Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry, volume 1, page 222
14. An introductory cue.
    • 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.2002, Carole Fleming, The Radio Handbook, page 53

Verb (1)

link (third-person singular simple present links, present participle linking, simple past and past participle linked)

1. (transitive) 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.1813, :Template:w#, A Tour Through Italy

   Synonyms:

   affix

2. (Internet, intransitive) To contain a hyperlink to another page.
   • My homepage links to my wife's.
3. (Internet, transitive) 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.
4. (Internet, transitive) To post a hyperlink to.
   • Stop linking those unfunny comics all the time!
5. (transitive) To demonstrate a correlation between (two things).
6. To combine objects generated by a compiler into a single executable.
7. (slang, transitive) 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 pen2016 February 14, Joseph Adenuga, Darren Dixon, Tariq Devega, “Ladies Hit Squad” (track 6), in Konnichiwa, performed by Skepta ft. D Double E and ASAP Nast, Boy Better Know
   • I might link my ting from Barkin'2017, Ramz, “Barking”

Noun (2)

link (plural links)

1. (obsolete) A torch, used to light dark streets.
   • Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torchesc. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
   • 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.’1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   connection

Verb (2)

link (third-person singular simple present links, present participle linking, simple past and past participle linked)

1. (Scotland, intransitive) 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.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

Proper noun capitalized: Link

IPA/lɪŋk/

Link

1. (rare) A diminutive of the male given name Lincoln.
2. A surname.
3. An unincorporated community in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States
4. A hamlet in Burrington parish, North Somerset, Somerset, England (OS grid ref ST4759).