chain gang

English

Alternative forms

• chain-gang

Noun

chain gang (plural chain gangs)

1. A group of convicts chained together to work outside the confines of a prison.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 205:

     My idea was to let that chain-gang get out of sight before I climbed the hill.

2. (cycling) A group of cyclists riding in a close-knit formation akin to a road race, normally for the purposes of training.

Derived terms

• chain-ganging

Translations

a group of convicts chained together

• Finnish: ryhmä kahlevankeja

a group of cyclists riding in a close-knit formation

• Finnish: ryhmäajo

Anagrams

• a-changing