shackle

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner)
  2. noun a U-shaped bar; the open end can be passed through chain links and closed with a bar
  3. verb bind the arms of

Etymology

From Middle English shakel, schakkyl, schakle (“a fetter, shackle; coupling used to connect a plough or wagon to a draft chain”), from Old English sċacul, sċeacel, sċeacul (“fetter, shackle”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakul, from Proto-Germanic *skakulaz (“shackle”), possibly from *skakaną (“to shake; to swing; to escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeg-, *skek- (“to shake; to stir”). However, this is doubted by the Oxford English Dictionary because *skeg-, *skek- lack the meaning of attaching or fastening. Etymology 1 sense 3 (“length of cable or chain equal to 12½ or 15 fathoms”) derives from the original distance between two shackles (etymology 1 sense 1.1.3) connecting lengths of cable or chain together. Cognates * Danish skagle (“carriage trace”) * Dutch schakel (“clasp; link; shackle”) * German Schäckel (“shackle”) * Icelandic skökull (“carriage pole”) * Swedish skakel (“loose shaft of a carriage”)

In classic literature

Synonyms

bond, hamper, trammel

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