"system of combined links," 1874, originally in mechanical engineering, from link (v.) + -age.
To understand the principle of Peaucellier's link-work, it is convenient to consider previously certain properties of a linkage, (to coin a new and useful word of general application), consisting of an arrangement of six links, obtained in the following manner ... (etc.). ["Recent Discoveries in Mechanical Conservation of Motion," in "Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engineering Magazine," vol. xi, July-December 1874]
c. 1600, "state of being linked together," from Late Latin concatenationem (nominative concatenatio) "a linking together," noun of action from past participle stem of concatenare "to link together," from com "with, together" (see con-) + catenare, from catena "a chain" (see chain (n.)). As "a series of things united like links in a chain" from 1726.
1969, from hyper- "over, above" + text (n.).
In place of the verbal connectives that are used in normal text, such as topic or transition sentences, hypertext connects nodes ... through links. The primary purpose of a link is to connect one card, node or frame and another card, frame or node that enables the user to jump from one to another. [David H. Jonassen, "Hypertext/hypermedia," 1989]
"bottom of a sleeve," mid-14c., cuffe "hand covering, mitten, glove," perhaps from Medieval Latin cuffia, cuphia "head covering," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately from Greek.
Sense of "band around the sleeve" is first attested 1520s; sense of "turned-up hem of trousers" is by 1896. Meaning "a fetter for the wrist" is from 1660s. Adverbial phrase off the cuff "extemporaneously" is attested by 1938, American English colloquial, suggesting an actor or speaker reading from notes jotted on his shirt sleeves rather than reciting learned lines. Cuff-links (also cufflinks) is from 1887.
