snow chain
1
3.7
- noun
- /snoʊ tʃeɪn/
- UK
:
cadena para nieve
- My father put the snow chains on the tires before we drove into the mountains.
Examples
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My father put snow chains in the trunk.
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Never forget the day I forgot I had ripped the brake lines to shreds when the snow chains broke loose the last time I had driven that truck a couple of months earlier.
Blog text (28) -
Plus, I need you to put the snow chains on my tires because there's a storm coming in.
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Ambulances got stuck in the massive snowstorm in part because they either didn't have snow chains on their tires.
Synonyms
1
3.4
A metal chain that fits around a car tire to help it grip snow or ice
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a chain fitted around a vehicle tire to improve traction on snow or ice' is directly derivable from combining 'snow' (conditions with snow/ice) and 'chain' (a linked metal device) — i.e., a chain for use in snowy conditions. This noun-noun compounding is highly compositional and common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The compound noun snow chain is a simple name: a chain put around a tire to help it grip snow and stop it slipping. So it means 'a chain for car tires used on snowy or icy roads'.