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Shackle   /ʃˈækəl/   Listen
noun
Shackle  n.  Stubble. (Prov. Eng.)



Shackle  n.  
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. "His shackles empty left; himself escaped clean."
2.
Hence, that which checks or prevents free action. "His very will seems to be in bonds and shackles."
3.
A fetterlike band worn as an ornament. "Most of the men and women... had all earrings made of gold, and gold shackles about their legs and arms."
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.
5.
A link for connecting railroad cars; called also drawlink, draglink, etc.
6.
The hinged and curved bar of a padlock, by which it is hung to the staple.
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.



verb
Shackle  v. t.  (past & past part. shackled; pres. part. shackling)  
1.
To tie or confine the limbs of, so as to prevent free motion; to bind with shackles; to fetter; to chain. "To lead him shackled, and exposed to scorn Of gathering crowds, the Britons' boasted chief."
2.
Figuratively: To bind or confine so as to prevent or embarrass action; to impede; to cumber. "Shackled by her devotion to the king, she seldom could pursue that object."
3.
To join by a link or chain, as railroad cars. (U. S.)
Shackle bar, the coupling between a locomotive and its tender. (U.S.)
Shackle bolt, a shackle.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Shackle" Quotes from Famous Books



... and shackle-bolt [Footnote: These are terms in heraldry. Ivanhoe means that, since he is a prisoner, fetters and shackles would be good device for his shield.] azure," said Ivanhoe; "I know not who may bear the device, but well I ween ...
— Journeys Through Bookland - Volume Four • Charles H. Sylvester

... it with pain and reluctance. He is chained to his wife-a favour suggested by the sheriff-with whom he can walk the streets of a free country,—but they must be bound in freedom's iron fellowship. The iron shackle clasps his wrist; the lock ticks as Romescos turns the key: it vibrates to his very heart. With a sigh he says, "Ours is a life of sorrow, streaming its dark way along a dangerous path. It will ebb into the bright and beautiful of heaven; that heaven wherein ...
— Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter • F. Colburn Adams

... dependent on any effort of his to provide the means of living. "He appealed," writes Mr Gosse, "to his father, whether it would not be better for him to see life in the best sense, and cultivate the powers of his mind, than to shackle himself in the very outset of his career by a laborious training, foreign to that aim. ... So great was the confidence of the father in the genius of his son that the former at once acquiesced in the proposal." It was decided that he should take to what an old woman of the lake district, ...
— Robert Browning • Edward Dowden

... offer to honest hands the money that is won by violing, and tabouring, and toe tripping, and perhaps worse pastimes. I tell you plainly, mistress, I am not to be fooled. I am ready to take you to any place of safety you can name, for my promise is as strong as an iron shackle. But you cannot persuade me that you do not know what earth to make for. You are not so young in your trade as not to know there are hostelries in every town, much more in a city like Perth, where such as you may be harboured for your money, if you cannot find some gulls, more or fewer, to ...
— The Fair Maid of Perth • Sir Walter Scott

... made the freeman, but man made the slave, Forcing his brother the shackle to wear; But all those fetters are loosed in the grave, King, priest, and serf meeting equally there; Here, too, and now, in these swift latter days, Freedom all round is humanity's right; Thought, speech, and action, enfranchised ...
— My Life as an Author • Martin Farquhar Tupper


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