shackle

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.To tie or confine the limbs of, so as to prevent free motion; to bind with shackles; to fetter; to chain. [1913 Webster]

To lead him shackled, and exposed to scorn Of gathering crowds, the Britons' boasted chief.— J. Philips.[1913 Webster]

2.Figuratively: To bind or confine so as to prevent or embarrass action; to impede; to cumber. [1913 Webster]

Shackled by her devotion to the king, she seldom could pursue that object.— Walpole.[1913 Webster]

3.To join by a link or chain, as railroad cars. [U. S.] [1913 Webster]

Shackle bar, the coupling between a locomotive and its tender. [U.S.]

Shackle bolt, a shackle. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

1.Something which confines the legs or arms so as to prevent their free motion; specifically, a ring or band inclosing the ankle or wrist, and fastened to a similar shackle on the other leg or arm, or to something else, by a chain or a strap; a gyve; a fetter. [1913 Webster]

His shackles empty left; himself escaped clean.— Spenser.[1913 Webster]

2.Hence, that which checks or prevents free action. [1913 Webster]

His very will seems to be in bonds and shackles.— South.[1913 Webster]

3.A fetterlike band worn as an ornament. [1913 Webster]

Most of the men and women . . . had all earrings made of gold, and gold shackles about their legs and arms.— Dampier.[1913 Webster]

4.A link or loop, as in a chain, fitted with a movable bolt, so that the parts can be separated, or the loop removed; a clevis. [1913 Webster]

5.A link for connecting railroad cars; -- called also drawlink, draglink, etc. [1913 Webster]

6.The hinged and curved bar of a padlock, by which it is hung to the staple. --Knight. [1913 Webster]

Shackle joint (Anat.), a joint formed by a bony ring passing through a hole in a bone, as at the bases of spines in some fishes. [1913 Webster]