shackle

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃækəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækəl

a shackle (sense 2)

Inmate in shackles (sense 1).

From Middle English schakkyl, schakle, from Old English sċeacel, sċeacul, sċacul (“shackle, bond, fetter”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakul, from Proto-Germanic *skakulaz (“shackle”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeg-, *skek- (“to jump, move, shake, stir”), equivalent to shake +‎ -le. Cognate with Dutch schakel (“link, shackle, clasp”), German Schäckel (“shackle”), Danish skagle (“a carriage trace”), Swedish skakel (“the loose shaft of a carriage”), Icelandic skökull (“a carriage pole”).

shackle (plural shackles)

1. (usually in the plural) A restraint fit over a human or animal appendage, such as a wrist, ankle or finger; normally used in pairs joined by a chain.

   Synonym: hobble

   Hyponyms: handcuff, manacle, fetter

   The prisoner lay in shackles in his gloomy cell.

2. A U-shaped piece of metal secured with a pin or bolt across the opening, or a hinged metal loop secured with a quick-release locking pin mechanism.

   Coordinate term: clevis

3. (figuratively, usually in the plural) A restraint on one's action, activity, or progress.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:

     His very will seems to be in bonds and shackles.

   • 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXV, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, pages 269–270:

     He had to eat with a knife and fork; he had to use napkin, cup, and plate; he had to learn his book, he had to go to church; he had to talk so properly that speech was become insipid in his mouth; whithersoever he turned, the bars and shackles of civilization shut him in and bound him hand and foot.

   • 1964, “Sister Suffragette”, performed by Glynis Johns:

     Cast off the shackles of yesterday! / Shoulder to shoulder into the fray!

4. A fetter-like band worn as an ornament.
   • 1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World:

     Most of the men and women […] had all earrings made of gold, and gold shackles about their legs and arms.

5. A link for connecting railroad cars; a drawlink or draglink.
6. A length of cable or chain equal to 12+¹⁄₂ fathoms or 75 feet, or later to 15 fathoms.

• shackle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From Middle English schakelen, schakkylen, from the noun (see above).

shackle (third-person singular simple present shackles, present participle shackling, simple past and past participle shackled)

1. (transitive) To restrain using shackles; to place in shackles.
2. (transitive, by extension) To render immobile or incapable; to inhibit the progress or abilities of.

   This law would effectively shackle its opposition.

   • 1973, “Swamp Witch”, in Jim Stafford (lyrics), Jim Stafford, performed by Jim Stafford:

     Some say the plague was brought by Hattie
     There was talk of a hangin' too.
     But the talk got shackled by the howls and the cackles
     From the bowels of the Black bayou.

   • 2011 February 12, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 2 - 1 Man City”, in BBC‎:

     Rooney, superbly shackled by City defender Vincent Kompany for so long as Ferguson surprisingly left Dimitar Berbatov on the bench, had previously cut a forlorn and frustrated figure but his natural instincts continue to serve him and United so well.

• (antonym(s) of “to restrain using shackles”): unshackle, untie
• (antonym(s) of “to inhibit the abilities of”): free, liberate, unshackle

From shack (“shake”) +‎ -le.

shackle (third-person singular simple present shackles, present participle shackling, simple past and past participle shackled)

1. (dialectal) To shake, rattle.

• Kachels, hackles

From Old English sceacel, sceacul, scacul (“shackle, bond, fetter”), from Proto-Germanic *skakulaz (“shackle”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeg-, *skek- (“to jump, move, shake, stir”).

• IPA^(key): [ʃakl], [ʃekl]

shackle (plural shackles)

1. shackle, fetter, manacle
2. (anatomy) wrist

• shackle-bane (“wrist”)

shackle (third-person singular simple present shackles, present participle shacklin, simple past shackelt, past participle shackelt)

1. to shackle