Unit of length equal to 66 feet, used especially in the U.S. public land surveys. The original measuring instrument (Gunter's chain) was literally a chain consisting of 100 iron links, each 7.92 inches long. Steel-ribbon tapes began to supersede chains around 1900, but surveying tapes are often still called "chains" and measuring with a tape is often called "chaining". The chain is a convenient unit in cadastral surveys because 10 square chains equal 1 acre.
The metre is a unit of length in the metric system, and is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
As the base unit of length in the SI and other m.k.s. systems (based around metres, kilograms and seconds) the metre is used to help derive other units of measurement such as the newton, for force.