different between circuit vs chain

English

Etymology

From Middle English circuit, from Old French circuit, from Latin circuitus (“a going round”), from circuire (“go round”), from circum (“around”) + ire. As a Chinese administrative division, a calque of Chinese ? (dào) or ? (lù).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [?s??.k?t]
• (General American) IPA^(key): [?s?.k?t]
• (Indian English) IPA^(key): [?s??.k??], [?s??.k??]
• Rhymes: -??(r)k?t

Noun

circuit (plural circuits)

1. The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution
   • 1904, Popular Science Monthly Volume 64 page 33

     After 27 days the moon has made one circuit among the stars, moving from west to east. But in those 27 days the sun has likewise moved eastwardly, about 27 degrees. The moon, then, has to make one circuit and a little more in order to be again in the line joining the earth and sun, in order to be again 'new.'

2. The circumference of, or distance around, any space; the measure of a line around an area.
3. That which encircles anything, as a ring or crown.
4. The space enclosed within a circle, or within limits.
6. (electricity) Enclosed path of an electric current, usually designed for a certain function.
7. A regular or appointed trip from place to place as part of one's job
   • November 25 2016, Jane Cornwell in The Age, Bill Bailey: bird loving joker at the peak of his career

     Having cut his teeth on London's take-no-prisoners comedy circuit he can handle hecklers too, sometimes with musical accompaniment; recent shows see him armed with a veritable chamber orchestra's worth of instruments, all of which he plays.

8. (law) The jurisdiction of certain judges within a state or country, whether itinerant or not.
9. (historical) Various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China, including:
   1. The counties at the fringes of the empire, usually with a non-Chinese population, from the Han to the Western Jin.
   2. The 10 or so major provinces of the empire from the Tang to the early Yuan.
   3. Major provincial divisions from the Yuan to early Republican China.
10. (law) Abbreviation of circuit court.
11. (Methodism) The basic grouping of local Methodist churches.
12. By analogy to the proceeding three, a set of theaters among which the same acts circulate; especially common in the heyday of vaudeville.
13. (motor racing) A track on which a race in held; a racetrack
    • November 13 2016, Formula 1

      Interlagos is the 24th track Hamilton has won at in F1, which is more than any other driver in history. The only circuit on the current calendar that Hamilton hasn’t won at is Baku, which only joined the schedule this year.

14. (obsolete) circumlocution
    • 1572, Richard Huloet, Huloets Dictionarie

      circuite of words.

15. (Scientology) A thought that unconsciously goes round and round in a person's mind and controls that person.
16. (graph theory) A closed path, without repeated vertices allowed.
17. A chain of cinemas/movie theaters.
    • 1990, Arthur A. Thompson, ?Alonzo J. Strickland, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases (page 341)

      Mike Patrick commented on a theater chain he was considering buying and converting to 99 ¢ theaters with multiplex screens: I'm looking at a circuit of theaters in a major metropolitan area. Now the owner hasn't told me that it is for sale yet.

    • 2002, Allen Eyles, ?Keith Skone, Cinemas of Hertfordshire (page 61)

      It again featured Edgar Simmons (the architect and chairman), John Ray (the builder), L. E. Agar (managing director) and J. G. Wainwright (head of a separate circuit of cinemas).

Synonyms

• (path or distance around a space): periplus (naval)
• (Imperial Chinese administrative divisions): dao; lu, route (Later Jin to Song); tao (obsolete)

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

circuit (third-person singular simple present circuits, present participle circuiting, simple past and past participle circuited)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To travel around.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin circuitus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /si??kujt/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /sir?kujt/

Noun

circuit m (plural circuits)

1. circuit

Further reading

• “circuit” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “circuit” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “circuit” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “circuit” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French circuit, from Old French circuit, from Latin circuitus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?r?k?i/
• Hyphenation: cir?cuit
• Rhymes: -i

Noun

circuit n (plural circuits, diminutive circuitje n)

1. (sports) racetrack

   Synonym: racebaan

2. (physics) electric circuit

   Synonym: stroomkring

3. (figuratively) exclusive group of individuals, clique, circle

   Synonyms: kliek, kring

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: sirkuit

French

Etymology

From Latin circuitus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si?.k?i/
• Homophone: circuits

Noun

circuit m (plural circuits)

1. circuit
2. tour

Derived terms

• circuit imprimé
• coup de circuit

Further reading

• “circuit” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?kir.ku.it/, [?k?rku?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?t??ir.ku.it/, [?t??irkuit?]

Verb

circuit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of circue?

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French circuit and Latin circuitus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??ir.ku?it/

Noun

circuit n (plural circuite)

1. circuit

Declension

Related terms

English

Etymology

From Middle English cheyne, chaine, from Old French chaine, chaene (“chain”), from Latin cat?na (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Doublet of catena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??e?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Noun

chain (plural chains)

1. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

2. A series of interconnected things.

3. A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.

4. (chemistry) A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.

5. (surveying) A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.
6. (surveying) A long measuring tape.
7. A unit of length equal to 22 yards. The length of a Gunter's surveying chain. The length of a cricket pitch. Equal to 20.12 metres, 4 rods, or 100 links.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter X, p. 177, [1]

     "But it's too far—must be a quarter of a mile—and I've a portmanteau to carry." […]

     "Garn!" shouted the guard. "Taint ten chain. […] "

8. (mathematics, set theory, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.
   • 2003, Jeremy P. Spinrad, Efficient Graph Representations, American Mathematical Society, page 108,

     We first find an approximation of the chain partition, i.e. a small but not minimum size set of chains which cover all elements of the poset.

9. (Britain) A sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase (said to be "broken" if a buyer or seller pulls out).
10. That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.
11. (nautical, in the plural) Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.
12. (weaving) The warp threads of a web.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (series of interconnected rings or links): rackle
• (series of interconnected things): See also Thesaurus:sequence

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

chain (third-person singular simple present chains, present participle chaining, simple past and past participle chained)

1. (transitive) To fasten something with a chain.

2. (figuratively) To connect as if with a chain, due to dependence, addiction, or other feelings}}

3. (intransitive) To link multiple items together.
4. (transitive) To secure someone with fetters.
5. (transitive) To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.
6. (figuratively) To obligate.
7. (computing) To relate data items with a chain of pointers.
8. (computing) To be chained to another data item.
9. (transitive) To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.
10. (transitive, computing, rare, associated with Acorn Computers) To load and automatically run (a program).
    • 1996, "Mr D Walsh", Running two programs from a batch file (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.misc)

      How do you get one program to chain another? I want to run DrawWorks2 then !Draw but as soon as you run Drawworks2 it finishes the batch file and doesn't go on to the next instruction! Is there a way without loading one of these automatic loaders?

    • 1998, "Juan Flynn", BBC software transmitted on TV - how to load? (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.misc)

      You can do LOAD "" or CHAIN "" to load or chain the next program if I remember correctly (it's been a loooong time since I've used a tape on an Acorn!)

    • 2006, "Richard Porter", SpamStamp double headers (on newsgroup comp.sys.acorn.apps)

      Recent versions of AntiSpam no longer use the Config file but have a Settings file instead, so when I updated the Config file to chain SpamStamp it had no effect as it was a redundant file.

Derived terms

• unchain
• chain up

Translations

References

• chain in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• chain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• OED 2nd edition 1989

Further reading

• chain on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Anich, Chian, China, china

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ai?n/

Adjective

chain

1. Aspirate mutation of cain.

Mutation