The elementary meaning of
daisy chain is a
garland created from the
daisy flower, generally as a children's
game. Daisies are picked and a hole is made towards the base of the stem, generally by piercing with
fingernails.The stem of the next flower can be threaded through until stopped by the head of the flower. By repeating this with many daisies, it is possible to build up long chains and to form them into simple, floral
bracelets and
necklaces. It is likely that the technical meanings given below, associated with various pursuits, stemmed from this simple, bucolic pursuit.
Computer Engineering
Within computer engineering daisy chain is a bus wiring scheme in which, for example, device A is wired to device B, device B is wired to device C, device C to device D etc. The last device is normally wired to a resistor called a terminator. All devices may receive identical signals or, in contrast to a simple bus, each device in the chain may modify one or more signals before passing them on.
Daisy chaining was a characteristic of RS-485, of Apple Computer's LocalTalk, and of various industrial control networks; also often used to describe Thinwire Ethernet (10base2).
Electrical Engineering
Within electrical engineering daisy chain is the same thing as a series wiring scheme where each power consuming unit is placed after the other, as opposed to parallel wiring.
Music
In electronic music, the term daisy chain refers to a series of synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, or various other MIDI devices connected to one another in a chain via MIDI cables. Each device may receive MIDI data from devices higher up in the chain. However, long daisy chains may result in a lag between the time information is originally sent from a master device and when it is received further down the chain. This is known as MIDI delay. Because of this, many musicians prefer to use MIDI patch bays rather than creating daisy chains.
Sexuality
'Daisy chain' is used in a sexual context either as formation involving multiple participants lying in a circle, with each person putting their mouth to the genitals of the next person in the chain or a group of men penetrating each other anally in a chain formation.
Rock climbing
In rock climbing, a daisy chain is a ladder made from nylon tape, originally made by chaining together several loops of nylon tape. It is used in aid climbing.
