handcuff

English

Wikipedia

A pair of standard law enforcement handcuffs.

Etymology

1775, from hand +‎ cuff (“end of shirtsleeve”).

Possibly influenced by Old English handcops, from hand + cops (“fetter, chains”), but due to lack of continuity (centuries between Old English and modern term), generally analyzed as a re-invention.

Pronunciation

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Noun

handcuff (plural handcuffs)

1. One ring of a locking fetter for the hand or one pair.

Synonyms

• manacle

Hypernyms

• fetter
• shackle

Translations

ring of a locking fetter for the hand

Armenian: ձեռնաշղթա (hy) (jeṙnašłtʿa) Chinese: Mandarin: 手銬 (zh), 手铐 (zh) (shǒukào) Danish: håndjern (da) Esperanto: mankateno (eo) Finnish: käsiraudat (fi) pl. French: menotte (fr) f. German: Handschelle (de) f. Greek: χειροπέδες (el) (chiropédes) f. pl. Hungarian: bilincs (hu)

Luhya: epingu Norwegian: Bokmål: håndjern (no) n., handjern (no) n. Nynorsk: handjarn (nn) n., handjern (nn) n. Polish: kajdanki (pl) pl. Romanian: cătușă (ro) Russian: наручник (ru) (narúčnik) m. Swahili: pingu (sw) Swedish: handboja (sv) c. Turkish: kelepçe (tr)

Verb

handcuff (third-person singular simple present handcuffs, present participle handcuffing, simple past and past participle handcuffed)

1. To apply handcuffs to; to manacle. - Hay (1754)
2. (figuratively) to restrain or restrict.

   Dang, I’m handcuffed by these regulations. I’d like to help but it’d be illegal.

Translations

Dutch: in de boeien slaan, handboeien omdoen, boeien Esperanto: mankateni Finnish: panna (fi) käsirautoihin (fi)

French: enchaîner, passer les menottes à, menotter (fr) Portuguese: algemar Spanish: esposar (es)