Meaning of Shackle | Babel Free

Definitions

1. 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.
   plural-normally
2. A surname
3. A person who is idle or lazy; an idler.
   UK, dialectal
4. 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.
   broadly, plural-normally
5. A dice game; also, an event at which tickets are sold for chances to be drawn to win prizes; a raffle.
   UK, dialectal
6. 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.
   broadly, plural-normally
7. 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.
   broadly, plural-normally
8. 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”).
   broadly, plural-normally
9. A link for connecting railroad cars; a draglink, drawbar, or drawlink.
   broadly, plural-normally
10. Ellipsis of shackle-bone (“wristbone, carpal; wrist”).
    Scotland, abbreviation, alt-of, archaic, broadly, ellipsis, plural-normally
11. A fetter-like band worn on an appendage as an ornament; an anklet, an armlet, a bracelet, a wristlet.
    broadly, obsolete, plural-normally, rare
12. A restraint on one's action, activity, or progress.
    figuratively, plural-normally
13. 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).

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“IF a horſe be galled in the paſtorne, on the heele, or vpon the cronet, either vvith ſhackell or locke, as it many times happens in the Champion countries, vvhere the Farmers vſe much to teather their horſes: then for ſuch a ſoare you ſhall take hony and verdigreaſe, and boyle them together till the one halfe be conſumed, and that it looke red: then after it is a little cooled, you ſhall annoynt the ſoare place therevvith tvvice a day, and then ſtrevv upon it a little chopt floxe to keepe on the ſalue.”

“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, . .”

“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: […]”

“[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!”

“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).”

CEFR level