What is "chad"

Shad \Shad\ (sh[a^]d), n. sing. & pl. [AS. sceadda a kind of fish, akin to Prov. G. schade; cf. Ir. & Gael. sgadan a herring, W. ysgadan herrings; all perhaps akin to E. skate a fish.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of food fishes of the Herring family. The American species ( Alosa sapidissima formerly Clupea sapidissima), which is abundant on the Atlantic coast and ascends the larger rivers in spring to spawn, is an important market fish. The European allice shad, or alose ( Alosa alosa formerly Clupea alosa), and the twaite shad ( Alosa finta formerly Clupea finta), are less important species. [Written also chad.]

Note: The name is loosely applied, also, to several other fishes, as the gizzard shad (see under Gizzard), called also mud shad, white-eyed shad, and winter shad.

Hardboaded shad, or Yellow-tailed shad, the menhaden.

Hickory shad, or Tailor shad, the mattowacca.

Long-boned shad, one of several species of important food fishes of the Bermudas and the West Indies, of the genus Gerres.

Shad bush (Bot.), a name given to the North American shrubs or small trees of the rosaceous genus Amelanchier ( A. Canadensis, and A. alnifolia) Their white racemose blossoms open in April or May, when the shad appear, and the edible berries (pomes) ripen in June or July, whence they are called Juneberries. The plant is also called service tree, and Juneberry.

Shad frog, an American spotted frog ( Rana halecina); -- so called because it usually appears at the time when the shad begin to run in the rivers.

Trout shad, the squeteague.

White shad, the common shad.

African nation, former French colony (Tchad), independent since 1960, named for Lake Chad, which is from a local word meaning "lake, large expanse of water." An ironic name for such a desert country.

also Mr. Chad, graffiti drawing of a head peering over a fence or wall, with the caption, "Wot, no ______?" (the U.S. version usually had "Kilroy was here"), in reaction to shortages and rationing, 1945, British, of unknown origin.

"hanging flap or piece after a hole is punched in paper," a word unknown to most people until the 2000 U.S. presidential election (when the outcome hinged on partially punched paper ballots in some Florida counties), attested by 1930, of unknown origin.

n. 1 (context uncountable English) Small pieces of paper punched out from the edges of continuous stationery, punched cards, paper tape etc. 2 (context countable English) One of these pieces of paper.

1. n. a small piece of paper that is supposed to be removed when a hole is punched in a card or paper tape

2. a lake in north central Africa; fed by the Shari river [syn: Lake Chad]

3. a landlocked desert republic in north-central Africa; was under French control until 1960 [syn: Republic of Chad, Tchad]

4. a family of Afroasiatic tonal languages (mostly two tones) spoken in the regions west and south of Lake Chad in north central Africa [syn: Chadic, Chadic language]

Chad refers to fragments sometimes created when holes are made in a paper, card or similar synthetic materials, such as computer punched tape or punched cards. "Chad" has been used both as a mass noun (as in "a pile of chad") and as a countable noun (pluralizing as in "many chads").

Chad is an African country.

Chad may also refer to:

• Chad (name), an English given name and surname
• Chad of Mercia, a seventh-century bishop
• Chad (paper), the particles created when holes are made in paper or cardboard
• Chad (slang), a pejorative term originating in Chicago, Illinois
• Chadwick School, a private school in Los Angeles, California
• Chad (chess variant), a chess variant by Christian Freeling
• CHADS2 score, a clinical prediction rule for the risk of stroke
• Chad baronets
• Chad-e Bala (Upper Chad), a village in Iran
• Chad-e Pain (Lower Chad), a village in Iran

Chad is a chess variant for two players created by Christian Freeling in 1979. It is played on an uncheckered 12×12 gameboard with one king and eight rooks per side, where rooks are able to promote to queens.

The inventor's aim was "to create a game of tactical and strategical depth that was both simple and elegant to express the concept of mate—the 'pure' chess game". The game was played for many years at the Fanaat games club in the Netherlands and was featured in the periodical The Gamer 6 in May–June 1982.

Chad (; ; ), officially the Republic of Chad ( ; ), is a landlocked country in northern Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest and Niger to the west. It is the fifth largest country in Africa in terms of area. Due to its harsh arid desert climate, it is often known as "the Dead Heart of Africa."

Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second-largest in Africa. N'Djamena, the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.

Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires had risen and fallen in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. In 1960, Chad obtained independence under the leadership of François Tombalbaye. Resentment towards his policies in the Muslim north culminated in the eruption of a long-lasting civil war in 1965. In 1979 the rebels conquered the capital and put an end to the south's hegemony. However, the rebel commanders fought amongst themselves until Hissène Habré defeated his rivals. He was overthrown in 1990 by his general Idriss Déby. Since 2003 the Darfur crisis in Sudan has spilt over the border and destabilised the nation, with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees living in and around camps in eastern Chad.

While many political parties are active, power lies firmly in the hands of President Déby and his political party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement. Chad remains plagued by political violence and recurrent attempted coups d'état. Chad is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world; most inhabitants live in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers. Since 2003 crude oil has become the country's primary source of export earnings, superseding the traditional cotton industry.

Chad is a generally derogatory slang term referring to a young urban white man, typically single and in his 20s or early 30s. The term originated during the 1990s in Chicago, Illinois, and was further popularized by a satirical website dedicated to the Lincoln Park Chad Society, a fictional social club based in Chicago's upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood. The female counterpart to the Chad, in slang, is the " Trixie".

A Chad is typically depicted as originating in Chicago's affluent North Shore suburbs ( Highland Park, Lincolnshire, Deerfield, Northbrook, Glenview, Glencoe, Winnetka, Wilmette, or Lake Forest), receiving a BMW for his 16th birthday, obtaining a law or business degree from a Big Ten University, belonging to a fraternity, moving to Lincoln Park, marrying a Trixie, and then moving back to the North Suburbs.

Chad is a masculine given name of Anglo-Saxon/ Welsh origins. It is the modernized form of the Old English given name Ceadda, influenced by the Welsh word cad meaning "battle". Ceadda (Chad of Mercia) was a 7th-century English saint.

Until the 20th century, Chad was very rarely used as a given name. According to the Social Security Administration, Chad first entered the top 1000 names for male children in the United States in 1945, when it was the 997th most popular name. Its popularity suddenly peaked beginning in the mid 1960s, reaching rank 25 in 1972 and 1973. From the mid 1970s, its popularity began a gradual decline, reaching rank 236 in 2000 and rank 667 as of 2013.