cord

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Cord and còrd

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
An electrical cord.
Cord consisting of twisted fiber.

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English corde, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, string of gut, the string of a lyre), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (bowel)). More at yarn and hernia.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

cord (countable and uncountable, plural cords)

  1. (countable) A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fiber (a rope, for example).
    The burglar tied up the victim with a cord.
  2. (uncountable) Any quantity of such material when viewed as a mass or commodity.
    Synonym: cordage
    He looped some cord around his fingers.
  3. A small flexible electrical conductor composed of wires insulated separately or in bundles and assembled together usually with an outer cover; the electrical cord of a lamp, sweeper ((US) vacuum cleaner), or other appliance.
  4. A unit of measurement for firewood, equal to 128 cubic feet (4 × 4 × 8 feet), composed of logs and/or split logs four feet long and none over eight inches diameter. It is usually seen as a stack four feet high by eight feet long.
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Battering-ram”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 376:
      Unerringly impelling this dead, impregnable, uninjurable wall, and this most buoyant thing within; there swims behind it all a mass of tremendous life, only to be adequately estimated as piled wood is—by the cord; and all obedient to one volition, as the smallest insect.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Braekstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 187:
      "If they buy three cords of birch logs," said the witch, "but they must be exact measure and no bargaining about the price, and if they throw overboard the one cord of logs, piece by piece, when the first sea comes, and the other cord, piece by piece, when the second sea comes, and the third cord, piece by piece, when the third sea comes, then it's all over with us."
  5. (figuratively) Any influence by which persons are caught, held, or drawn, as if by a cord.
  6. (anatomy) Any structure having the appearance of a cord, especially a tendon or nerve.
    spermatic cord; spinal cord; umbilical cord; vocal cords
  7. Dated form of chord: musical sense.
  8. Misspelling of chord: a cross-section measurement of an aircraft wing.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

cord (third-person singular simple present cords, present participle cording, simple past and past participle corded)

  1. To furnish with cords
  2. To tie or fasten with cords
  3. To flatten a book during binding
  4. To arrange (wood, etc.) in a pile for measurement by the cord.

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

cord

  1. Alternative form of corde

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin cor, cordis.

Noun[edit]

cord n (plural corduri)

  1. (anatomy) heart
    Synonym: inimă

Declension[edit]

Related terms[edit]