Definition of "cord"

cord

/kɔɹd/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural cords
1. (countable) A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fiber (a rope, for example).
2. (uncountable) Any quantity of such material when viewed as a mass or commodity.
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Battering-ram”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 376
  "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. (figuratively) Any influence by which persons are caught, held, or drawn, as if by a cord.
  Quotations
  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, […]
  1842, Alfred Tennyson, “To—”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 15
  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.
  1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […]
6. (anatomy) Any structure having the appearance of a cord, especially a tendon or nerve.
7. Dated form of chord: musical sense.
8. Misspelling of chord: a cross-section measurement of an aircraft wing.
verb
third-person singular simple present cords, present participle cording, simple past and past participle corded
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.