shackle

noun

1. (plural-normally)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.

   “The prisoner lay in shackles in his gloomy cell.”

   “Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs / Receive our air, that moment they are free, / They touch our country and their ſhackles fall. / That's noble, and beſpeaks a nation proud / And jealous of the bleſſing.”

   “Tom got in, and Haley, drawing out from under the wagon seat a heavy pair of shackles, made them fast around each ankle. A smothered groan of indignation ran through the whole circle, […]”

   “As installed at Hormel's Fremont, Nebr[aska] plant, pleasanter and safer working conditions for hog dispatching personnel, […] are some other plus factors for this new hog sticking-bleeding method. […] Conveyors replace the shackle and shackle hoist and a precisely administered incision replaces catch-as-catch-can sticking.”

2. (broadly, plural-normally)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.
3. (broadly, plural-normally)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.
4. (broadly, plural-normally)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.

   “Shackles come in various sizes and are used to join recovery items to the vehicle or to each other. They come in two shapes and are known as either bow shackles or D-shackles. The bow shackle is the preferred shape because it permits easier attachment of bulky items and is the most common style of shackle now in use.”

5. (broadly, plural-normally)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.

   “Soles, fetters, ⁊ ſhackles, with horſelock and pad, / a cow-houſe for winter, ſo meete to be had: / A ſtie for a bore, and a hogſcote for hog, / a rooſt for thy hennes, and a couch for thy dog.”

   “I should have thought some sleek and sober mule / Long train'd in shackles to procession pace, / More suited to my Lord of Seville's use / Than this good war-horse, . .”

6. (broadly, plural-normally)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.
7. (Scotland, abbreviation, alt-of, archaic, broadly, ellipsis, plural-normally)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.
8. (broadly, obsolete, plural-normally, rare)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.

   “They firſt vvaſh the dead body, paint him, clothe him, and ſo conueigh him to his Dormitorie, vvhich is ſpacious and neat, vvherein they bury his Armolets, Bracelets, Shackles and ſuch Treaſure, concluding their Ceremonies vvith Mimmicke geſtures and eiaculations: vvhich, vvith the Sacrifice of a Goat, vpon his Graue, puts a period to their Burials.”

   “[M]oſt of the Men and VVomen […] had all Ear-rings made of Gold, and Gold Shackles about their Legs and Arms: […]”

9. (figuratively, plural-normally)A restraint on one's action, activity, or progress.

   “[A] Servant commonly is leſs free in Mind than in Condition; his very VVill ſeems to be in bonds and ſhackles, and Deſire it ſelf under a kind of Durance and Captivity.”

   “Virtue's a Shackle, under fair Diſguiſe, / To fetter Fools, vvhile vve bear off the Prize.”

   “He had to eat with 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.”

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

10. 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).

    “Once the cables are at five shackles to each anchor, stop engines and stop windlass operations. The vessel will then be seen to lie to five shackles on the Port (Riding Cable) and five shackles on the starboard (Sleeping Cable).”

11. (UK, dialectal)A person who is idle or lazy; an idler.
12. (UK, dialectal)A dice game; also, an event at which tickets are sold for chances to be drawn to win prizes; a raffle.

verb

1. (transitive)To place (a person or animal) in shackles (noun etymology 1 sense 1); to immobilize or restrain using shackles.

   “A man giuen ouer to ſenſual appetite carrieth fetters in his eyes, vvhervvith he shackleth, glevv, vvhervvith he layeth faſt hold, hookes, vvhervvith he catcheth, flames vvhervvith he burneth, ſhafts, vvhervvith he transfixeth both his ovvne and the ſoules of other men: ſhackled vvith theſe fetters, caught vvith these hookes, burnt vvith theſe flames: transfixed vvith theſe shafts vvas the Aſſyrian Holofernes.”

   “Huelydd, sub[stantive] a fetterer, he that shackleth or fettereth”

   “The chariot jumps, on which thou art. Thou art troubled to hold up thy horses. If it falls into the abyss, the pole drags thee down too. Thy ceintures are pulled away. They fall down. Thou shacklest the horse, because the pole is broken on the path of the narrow pass. Not knowing how to bind it up, thou understandest not how it is to be repaired.”

   “Nae doubt it's a hard thing to skulk and starve in the heather, but it's harder yet to lie shackled in a red-coat prison.”

2. (transitive)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.).
3. (transitive)To provide (something) with a shackle.
4. (figuratively, transitive)To inhibit or restrain the ability, action, activity, or progress of (someone or something); to render (someone or something) incapable or ineffectual.

   “This law would effectively shackle its opposition.”

   “[I]t were a plaine ſlauerie, ⁊ iniurie to, to ſhakkle and tye a good witte, and hinder the courſe of a mãs [man's] good nature with ſuch bondes of ſeruitude, in folowyng other.”

   “Of it ſelfe it [the law] is the cord of a Iudge vvhich bindeth hand and foot, and ſhackleth unto condemnation; but by Chriſt it is made the cord of a man, and the band of Love, by vvhich he teacheth us to goe, even as a nurſe her infant.”

   “AN Eagle made a Stoop at a Lamb; Truſs'd it, and took it Cleverly avvay vvith her. A Mimical Davv, that ſavv This Exploit, vvould needs try the ſame Experiment upon a Ram: But his Clavvs vvere ſo Shackled in the Fleece vvith Lugging to get him up, that the Shepherd came in, and Caught him, before he could Cleare Himſelf; He Clipt his VVings, and carry'd him Home to his Children to Play vvithal.”

   “[T]he abſurd duty, too often inculcated, of obeying a parent only on account of his being a parent, ſhackles the mind, and prepares it for a ſlaviſh ſubmiſſion to any povver but reaſon.”

5. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To combine (a substance) with another substance.

   “Bitterneſs is produced by a Sulphur vvell impregnated, either vvith an Alkaline, or an Acid Salt, but alſo ſhackled vvith Earth.”

   “[A] little of that Fixed Salt, ſerves, it ſeems, to Shackle or Cryſtallize (vvhich is a degree of Fixation) a very great quantity of the Eſſential Salt of this Plant.”

6. (intransitive, reflexive)Of two things: to connect or couple together.
7. (UK, dialectal, transitive)To rattle or shake (something).
8. (UK, dialectal, transitive)To put (something) into disorder; specifically (agriculture), to cause (standing stalks of corn) to fall over.
9. (UK, dialectal, intransitive)Often followed by about: to be idle or lazy; to avoid work.

name

1. A surname