Cord
Pronunciation
- GenAm IPA: /kɔɹd/
- RP IPA: /kÉ”Ëd/
- Rhymes: -É”Ë(ɹ)d
- Homophones: chord, cored, cawed in non-rhotic accents
Origin
From Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek (Doric) χοÏδά (khorda), Ionic χοÏδή (khorde, "string of gut, the string of a lyre")
Full definition of cord
Noun
cord
(plural cords)- A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fiber (rope, for example); uncountable such a length of twisted strands considered as a commodity.The burglar tied up the victim with a cord.He looped some cord around his fingers.
- 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.
- 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.
- (in plural cords) See cords.
- Misspelling of chord: a cross-section measurement of an aircraft wing.
- : musical sense.
- (figuratively) Any influence by which persons are caught, held, or drawn, as if by a cord.
- TennysonThe knots that tangle human creeds,
The wounding cords that bind and strain
The heart until it bleeds. - 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,Every detail of the house and garden was familiar; a thousand cords of memory and affection drew him thither; but a stronger counter-motive prevailed.
- (anatomy) Any structure having the appearance of a cord, especially a tendon or nerve.spermatic cord; spinal cord; umbilical cord; vocal cords