shackle

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English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃækəl/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ækəl

Etymology 1[edit]

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”).

Noun[edit]

shackle (plural shackles)

  2. (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.
  4. 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
  5. (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!
  6. 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.
  7. A link for connecting railroad cars; a drawlink or draglink.
  8. A length of cable or chain equal to 12+1⁄2 fathoms or 75 feet, or later to 15 fathoms.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
stubble — see stubble

Further reading[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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

Verb[edit]

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[1]:
      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.
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

From shack (“shake”) +‎ -le.

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (dialectal) To shake, rattle.

Anagrams[edit]

Scots[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

shackle (plural shackles)

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

Derived terms[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. to shackle
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