shackle
Meanings
- A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.
- A U-shaped piece of metal secured with a bolt or pin across the ends, or a hinged metal loop secured with a quick-release locking pin mechanism, used for attaching things together while allowing for some degree of movement; a clevis.
- Part of a padlock that consists of a loop of metal (round or square in cross section) that encompasses what is being secured by the lock.
- A hook, ring, or other device for connecting, holding, lifting, etc.; specifically (nautical), a small incomplete ring secured with a bolt across the ends, used to connect lengths of cable or chain together, or to keep a porthole closed.
- Synonym of hobble or hopple (“a short strap tied between the legs of a horse, allowing it to wander a short distance but not to run off”).
- A link for connecting railroad cars; a draglink, drawbar, or drawlink.
- Ellipsis of shackle-bone (“wristbone, carpal; wrist”).
- A fetter-like band worn on an appendage as an ornament; an anklet, an armlet, a bracelet, a wristlet.
- A restraint on one's action, activity, or progress.
- A length of cable or chain equal to 12½ fathoms (75 feet or about 22.9 metres), or later to 15 fathoms (90 feet or about 27.4 metres).
- To place (a person or animal) in shackles (noun etymology 1 sense 1); to immobilize or restrain using shackles.
- To connect or couple (something) to another thing using a shackle (noun etymology 1 sense 1.1.1, etymology 1 sense 1.1.3, etc.).
- To provide (something) with a shackle.
- To inhibit or restrain the ability, action, activity, or progress of (someone or something); to render (someone or something) incapable or ineffectual.
- To combine (a substance) with another substance.
- Of two things: to connect or couple together.
- A person who is idle or lazy; an idler.
- A dice game; also, an event at which tickets are sold for chances to be drawn to win prizes; a raffle.
- To rattle or shake (something).
- To put (something) into disorder; specifically (agriculture), to cause (standing stalks of corn) to fall over.
- Often followed by about: to be idle or lazy; to avoid work.
- A surname
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English shakel, schakkyl, schakle (“a fetter, shackle; coupling used to connect a plough or wagon to a draft chain”), from Old English sċacul, sċeacel, sċeacul (“fetter, shackle”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakul, from Proto-Germanic *skakulaz (“shackle”), possibly from *skakaną (“to shake; to swing; to escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeg-, *skek- (“to shake; to stir”). However, this is doubted by the Oxford English Dictionary because *skeg-, *skek- lack the meaning of attaching or fastening. Etymology 1 sense 3 (“length of cable or chain equal to 12½ or 15 fathoms”) derives from the original distance between two shackles (etymology 1 sense 1.1.3) connecting lengths of cable or chain together. Cognates * Danish skagle (“carriage trace”) * Dutch schakel (“clasp; link; shackle”) * German Schäckel (“shackle”) * Icelandic skökull (“carriage pole”) * Swedish skakel (“loose shaft of a carriage”)