Cord
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example). countable
"The burglar tied up the victim with a cord."
- 2 a line made of twisted fibers or threads wordnet
- 3 Any quantity of such material when viewed as a mass or commodity. uncountable
"He looped some cord around his fingers."
- 4 a cut pile fabric with vertical ribs; usually made of cotton wordnet
- 5 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. countable, uncountable
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- 6 a light insulated conductor for household use wordnet
- 7 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. countable, uncountable
"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."
- 8 a unit of amount of wood cut for burning; 128 cubic feet wordnet
- 9 Any influence by which persons are caught, held, or drawn, as if by a cord. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"Clear-headed friend, whose joyful scorn, / Edged with sharp laughter, cuts atwain / The knots that tangle human creeds, / The wounding cords that bind and strain / The heart until it bleeds, […]"
- 10 Any structure having the appearance of a cord, especially a tendon or nerve. countable, uncountable
"spermatic cord; spinal cord; umbilical cord; vocal cords"
- 11 Dated form of chord. alt-of, countable, dated, uncountable
- 12 Misspelling of chord, a cross-section measurement of an aircraft wing. alt-of, countable, misspelling, uncountable
- 1 To furnish with cords.
- 2 bind or tie with a cord wordnet
- 3 To tie or fasten with cords.
- 4 stack in cords wordnet
- 5 To flatten a book during binding.
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- 6 To arrange (wood, etc.) in a pile for measurement by the cord.
Example
More examples"Bolas are made up of a long cord with two stone balls at the free ends."
Etymology
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 *ǵʰerH- (“bowels, intestines”)). Doublet of chord and cuerda. More at yarn and hernia.
Related phrases
More for "cord"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.