cord

Etymology

From Middle English corde, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Doric Ancient Greek χορδά (khordá, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”) (compare Ionic χορδή (khordḗ), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“bowel”)). More at yarn and hernia.

noun

1. (countable) A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fiber (a rope, for example).
   The burglar tied up the victim with a cord.
2. (uncountable) Any quantity of such material when viewed as a mass or commodity.
   He looped some cord around his fingers.
3. 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.
4. 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.
   "If they buy three cords of birch logs," said the witch, "but they must be exact measure and no bargaining about the price, and if they throw overboard the one cord of logs, piece by piece, when the first sea comes, and the other cord, piece by piece, when the second sea comes, and the third cord, piece by piece, when the third sea comes, then it's all over with us." 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Braekstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 187
5. (figurative) Any influence by which persons are caught, held, or drawn, as if by a cord.
6. (anatomy) Any structure having the appearance of a cord, especially a tendon or nerve.
   spermatic cord; spinal cord; umbilical cord; vocal cords
7. Dated form of chord: musical sense.
8. Misspelling of chord: a cross-section measurement of an aircraft wing.

verb

1. To furnish with cords
2. To tie or fasten with cords
3. To flatten a book during binding
4. To arrange (wood, etc.) in a pile for measurement by the cord.