Wiktionary

shackle

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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