Definition of chain gang
: a gang of people (such as convicts) chained together especially as an outside working party
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Recent Examples of chain gang from the Web
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The origins of the law can be traced back to when chain gangs were common in the late 1920s.
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Arpaio forced his prisoners to march in pink underwear, work in chain gangs, shower in boiling-hot water, and eat rotten food (the sheriff boasted about this last point).
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In the mid-1990s, Fob James campaigned for a second term as governor on a law-and-order platform of school and prison reform that included support for corporal punishment and the reinstatement of chain gangs.
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The Saints coach strives for lasers instead of the chain gang to handle down and distance (basically goodbye to index cards determining a first down).
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Even Jughead, boy leader of a chain gang, is creeped out.
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These included ordering inmates to wear pink underwear, showing The Food Channel in the cafeteria (to make jest of prisoner's meals), and having prisoners work in chain gangs, including the only all-female one in the country.
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While Bob Dylan is famous for inventing a rugged background for himself, and Lennon was a middle-class suburban kid singing about chain gangs and railroads in the Quarrymen, there were plenty of stars for whom hardship was a driving force.
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One idea: Use real chain gangs, prisoners chained together at the ankles.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chain gang.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of chain gang
1830
CHAIN GANG Defined for English Language Learners
chain gang
Definition of chain gang for English Language Learners
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: a group of prisoners who are chained together while they do work outside the prison
Law Dictionary
chain gang
legal Definition of chain gang
: a group of convicts chained together especially to work outside a prison
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