• (RP, America) IPA: /lɪŋk/

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.

link (plural links)

1. A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.

   The mayor’s assistant serves as the link to the media.

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

     The link of brotherhood, by which / One common Maker bound me to the kind.

   • 1573, George Gascoigne, A Hundreth Sundry Flowres:

     And so by double lynkes enchaynde themselues in louers life

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. Abbreviation of hyperlink

   The link on the page points to the sports scores.

4. (computing) The connection between buses or systems.

   A by-N-link is composed of N lanes.

5. (mathematics) A space comprising one or more disjoint knots.
6. (Sussex) a thin wild bank of land splitting two cultivated patches and often linking two hills.
7. (figurative) an individual person or element in a system
8. Anything doubled and closed like a link of a chain.
   • 1707, 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 ↗:

     a link of horsehair

9. A sausage that is not a patty.
10. (kinematics) 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. (engineering) 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. (surveying) 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. (chemistry) A bond of affinity, or a unit of valence between atoms; applied to a unit of chemical force or attraction.
14. (in the plural) The windings of a river; the land along a winding stream.
15. (broadcasting) An introductory cue.
    • 2002, Carole Fleming, The Radio Handbook, page 53:

      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.

• (connection between things) connection; See also Thesaurus:link

• French: lien, connexion, rapport
• German: Verbindung
• Italian: collegamento, lega, legame, connessione, rapporto
• Portuguese: ligação, vínculo
• Russian: связь
• Spanish: enlace, vínculo, lazo

• French: maillon, chaînon
• German: Verknüpfung, Glied
• Italian: anello, maglia
• Portuguese: elo
• Russian: звено́
• Spanish: eslabón

• French: lien, lien hypertexte, hyperlien
• German: Link, Hyperlink
• Italian: link, collegamento
• Portuguese: ligação, link, hiperligação
• Russian: ссы́лка
• Spanish: enlace, vínculo, hiperenlace, hipervínculo

• German: Verknüpfung
• Italian: connessione
• Portuguese: ligação
• Russian: связь
• Spanish: enlace, vínculo

• German: Verschlingung, Verkettung

• German: Wildnisstreifen

• German: Glied

• German: Koppel, Getriebeglied, Koppelstange (rod)

• German: Kettenglied (0.201168 m)

• German: Bindigkeit

• German: Schlingen

link (links, present participle linking; simple past and past participle linked)

1. (transitive) To connect two or more things.
   • 1813, John Chetwode Eustace, A Tour Through Italy:

     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.

2. (intransitive, of a Web page) To contain a hyperlink to another page.

   My homepage links to my wife's.

3. (transitive, Internet) To supply (somebody) with a hyperlink; to direct by means of a link.

   Haven't you seen his Web site? I'll link you to it.

4. (transitive, Internet) To post a hyperlink to.

   Stop linking those unfunny comics all the time!

5. (transitive) To demonstrate a correlation between two things.
6. (compilation) To combine objects generated by a compiler into a single executable.
7. (transitive, slang) To meet with someone.

• (to connect two or more things) affix, attach, join, put together; see also Thesaurus:join

• French: relier, lier
• German: verbinden, verknüpfen
• Italian: collegare, connettere, (hyperlinks) linkare
• Portuguese: ligar, relacionar
• Russian: свя́зывать
• Spanish: enlazar

• French: lier , pointer (sur), contenir un lien (vers), hyperlier
• German: verweisen, verlinken
• Portuguese: linkar

Plausibly a modification of Medieval Latin - linchinus ("candle"), an alteration of Latin lynchinus, itself from Ancient Greek λύχνος.

link (plural links)

1. (obsolete) A torch, used to light dark streets.
   • c. 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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene iii]:

     Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches

   • 1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC ↗:

     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.’

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC ↗:

     Give me a loan of the link, Dick.

• French: flambeau, torche
• German: Spanlicht (obsolete), Kienspan (fatwood)

link (links, present participle linking; simple past and past participle linked)

1. (Scotland, intransitive) To skip or trip along smartly; to go quickly.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     On a sudden he was aware of a man linking along at his side. He cried a fine night, and the man replied.

• German: herumspringen, umherhüpfen

• IPA: /lɪŋk/

1. (rare) A male given name
2. Surname.