Definition
nounA connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.
nounOne element of a chain or other connected series.
Sentence Examples
Is there a link between smoking and lung cancer?
The new tunnel will link Britain and France.
Police suspect there may be a link between the two murders.
Word Origin & History
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 (“ring; bond; fettle; fetter”), from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“bendsome, flexible”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng-, *klenk- (“to bend; twist; wind”). Used in English since the 14th century. Related to lank.
Cognates
Cognate with Low German Lenk (“link”), Danish lænke (“chain; link”), Elfdalian lekk (“link”), Icelandic hlekkur (“link”), Norwegian Bokmål lenke (“chain; link”), Norwegian Nynorsk lenke, lenkje (“chain; link”), Swedish länk (“chain; link”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"And so by double lynkes enchaynde themselues in louers life"
— 1573, George Gascoigne, A Hundreth Sundry Flowres:
"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:
"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: