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chain gang

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR chain gang ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a group of convicts chained together, especially when working outside.

Origin of chain gang

First recorded in 1825–35

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for chain gang

Historical Examples of chain gang

My idea was to let that chain-gang get out of sight before I climbed the hill.
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad
There were upward of two hundred of us, and they let us out like a chain-gang, one by one.
The Coast of Chance
Esther Chamberlain
To begin: why did you send those four prisoners out with the chain-gang?
The Free Lances
Mayne Reid
In half an hour the chain-gang starts for the mines, and you are one of them.
The Slave of the Mine
Bracebridge Hemyng
From the vessel I observed the chain-gang at work on the levee.
Twelve Years a Slave
Solomon Northup

British Dictionary definitions for chain gang

chain gang

noun

US a group of convicted prisoners chained together, usually while doing hard labour

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012