link
Noun plurallinks
Plurallinks
- 1To connect two or more things to each other.
Like tying two ropes together so they act as one.
A new treaty will link the two nations in a trade alliance.
The software linked thousands of devices into one network.
UsageLink one thing to or with another, or link two things together.
Similarconnect, join, unite, tie, couple
Oppositeseparate, disconnect, divide, sever
- 2Short for hyperlink: words or a picture you click or tap to reach a page, file, or part of a document.
The email contained a broken link that led nowhere.
He copied the link and pasted it into the chat.
UsageYou click (on) a link, copy it, or send someone a link to a page.
Note
It can mean the clickable text or graphic itself, or, more broadly, the address behind it, which is what you copy and paste. Hyperlink is also a verb, and the short form follows it there too: see the verb for posting links.
- 3A connection joining places, people, events, things, or ideas.
Like a thread tying two separate ideas together.
Researchers found a link between the two historical events.
The bridge provides a vital link between the island and the mainland.
UsageA link between two things, or a link to or with one: a clear link to good health.
Similarconnection, tie, bond, relationship, association
Note
Writers soon stretched it to people and feeling: Cowper's "link of brotherhood" in The Task, and Gascoigne's lovers "by double lynkes enchaynde" in 1573. The image of a ring in a chain still sits underneath, which is why links can be strong, weak or broken.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- William Cowper used the words link of brotherhood in The Task. eighteenthcenturypoetry.org
- Gascoigne used the quoted wording about people joined in marriage. sourcetext.com
- The Gascoigne example dates to the original 1573 collection, rather than its 1575 revision. en.wiktionary.org
- 4To show that a relationship or correlation exists between two things.
Like proving that two events tend to happen together rather than by chance.
Researchers link the gene to a higher risk of disease.
Several studies have linked stress to heart problems.
UsageLink one thing to another, often in the passive: stress is linked to heart problems.
- 5To provide a hyperlink to something, as in a post, web page, or message, or to direct someone to it by a link.
She linked the press release on her social media.
Several users link the same study whenever this topic comes up.
UsageTakes the page or post as its object: link the article, or link someone to it.
Similarhyperlink
- 6A connection between two buses or systems that allows them to communicate or transfer data.
Like a phone line connecting two offices so they can share messages.
Engineers tested the link between the two systems for errors.
The wireless link lets the sensor send readings to the hub.
Similarconnection, channel
Note
Hardware engineers measure a link by its width in lanes: a by-N link is made up of N lanes. Unlike the everyday sense, it names a specific channel between buses or systems, so links are counted, specified and tested as components rather than spoken of loosely as connections.
Less common meanings
- 7
- 8A sausage made in a tube shape rather than a flat patty.
She grilled several links alongside the burgers.
A single link of breakfast sausage sat on the plate.
UsageOften sausage links or a link of sausage, counted one by one: a few links.
Similarsausage
- 9A single person or element considered as one part of a larger connected system.
Like a single relay runner whose pace affects the whole team.
Each volunteer is a vital link in the relief effort.
A single faulty link in the process delayed the entire shipment.
UsageOften the weakest link, or a vital link in a chain or effort.
Similarpart, element, component, cog
Note
The logic is that a system fails where its poorest part does. Lidwell, Holden and Butler's Universal Principles of Design turns this around by calling the fuse both the weakest link and the most valuable one, since failing first is its job.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler are the authors of Universal Principles of Design. universalprinciplesofdesign.com
- Universal Principles of Design describes the fuse as both the weakest and the most valuable link. people.engr.tamu.edu
- A fuse is designed to fail protectively before other circuit components are damaged. eaton.com
- 10To meet with someone, typically to spend time together or connect socially.
Let's link the others once they finish work.
He linked his old teammates at the reunion.
UsageTakes the person directly, with no preposition: link your friends. Link up with someone is also common.
Similarmeet
Note
Slang for the meet-up, and it takes its person directly, with no preposition: in Ramz's "Barking" (2017) the object is the singer's girlfriend. The lyrics show a romantic edge. Skepta's "Same Old Story" (2019) asks whom a partner was seeing this way before him, so in casual use it can imply more than a friendly catch-up.
- 11A rod or other part of a mechanism that connects other parts and transmits or constrains their motion.
The engineer adjusted the link to change how the valve moved.
Each link transmits force between the eccentric rods and the valve.
Note
Steam engineering gave this sense its most specific form, the link motion. There the link is a slotted bar with an eccentric rod jointed to each end, and shifting it varies how the valve moves. More generally, any short connecting rod with a bearing at each end is a link: a working part that passes force along rather than merely joining.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Steam-engine link motion uses a slotted link with eccentric rods jointed to its ends. en.wikipedia.org
- Shifting the link varies the valve's movement. catskillarchive.com
- A short connecting rod with a bearing at each end is a link. en.wiktionary.org
- Mechanical links transmit force or motion. en.wikipedia.org
- 12To move along quickly and smartly, skipping or tripping lightly as one goes.
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 TideNote
A Scots verb of unknown origin, with no known tie to chains, for moving along briskly. It pairs naturally with along: John Buchan's The Outgoing of the Tide (1902) has a man "linking along at his side." Outside Scottish writing it is easily misread as the joining verb, so give readers enough context.
- 13A torch carried to give light in dark streets, used before modern street lighting existed.
Give me a loan of the link, Dick.
1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure IslandThou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches
c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth,”Note
A separate word that only looks like the chain one. It probably comes from Medieval Latin linchinus, "candle," and ultimately from Greek lúkhnos, "lamp." Long obsolete, it survives in literature: Shakespeare's "links and torches" in Henry IV, Part 1, a speaker in Dickens's Hard Times (1854) without a penny to buy one, and Stevenson's Treasure Island. Outside historical settings, readers will hear the chain.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- The torch word has a separate origin from the chain word. en.wiktionary.org
- The proposed origin is Medieval Latin linchinus, meaning candle, ultimately from Greek lúkhnos, meaning lamp. en.wiktionary.org
- Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 contains the exact words “links and torches”; Falstaff speaks them to Bardolph. gutenberg.org
- In Charles Dickens's Hard Times, Bounderby says he had not a penny to buy a link. gutenberg.org
- Hard Times was first published in 1854. en.wikipedia.org
- Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island uses link in the torch sense; Silver requests it from Dick. gutenberg.org
- 14To combine the object files produced by a compiler into a single runnable program.
- 15A unit of valence between atoms: a single bond of chemical affinity or attraction joining them.
- 16A surveying unit of length equal to one hundredth of Gunter's chain, or 7.92 inches, the full chain measuring 66 feet.
- 17In topology, a space made up of one or more disjoint knots considered together.
- 18A short introductory cue used to lead into the next segment of a broadcast.
- 19A winding of a river, or the stretch of land lying along a curving stream.
- 20A thin strip of wild land that separates two cultivated patches and often connects 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
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English linke, lenke, a merger of Old English hlenċe ("ring; chainlink") and Old Norse hlekkr ("ring; chain"), both from Proto-Germanic *hlankiz ("ring; bond; fetter"). It has been used in English since the 14th century and is related to lank.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Link comes through Middle English linke and lenke, merging Old English and Old Norse forms. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English hlenċe could denote a link or chain of links. bosworthtoller.com
- Both ancestral forms derive from Proto-Germanic *hlankiz, meaning ring, bond or fetter. en.wiktionary.org
- The word has been used in English since the 14th century. en.wiktionary.org
- Link is etymologically related to lank. en.wiktionary.org
Ancient Greek λύχνος (lúkhnos, "lamp") gave Latin lynchinus, which was altered to Medieval Latin linchinus ("candle"). The English word is plausibly a modified form of that.