shackle

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English[edit]

WOTD – 19 June 2024

Pronunciation[edit]

A prison inmate in shackles (sense 1.
A shackle used to attach things together (sense 1.1.1).

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English shakel, schakkyl, schakle (“a fetter, shackle; coupling used to connect a plough or wagon to a draft chain”),[1] 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.[2]

Sense 3 (“length of cable or chain equal to 12½ or 15 fathoms”) derives from the original distance between two shackles (sense 1.1.2) connecting lengths of cable or chain together.[2]

cognates

Noun[edit]

shackle (plural shackles)

  2. (usually in the plural) 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.
    Synonym: fetter
    Hyponyms: handcuff, hobble, hopple, legcuff, manacle, wristlet
    The prisoner lay in shackles in his gloomy cell.
    1. (by extension)
      2. 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.
      4. 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.
      5. (agriculture) 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”)
      6. (rail transport) A link for connecting railroad cars; a draglink, drawbar, or drawlink.
        Synonym: (US) dragbar
      7. (Scotland, archaic) Short for shackle-bone (“wristbone, carpal; wrist”).
      8. (obsolete, rare) A fetter-like band worn on an appendage as an ornament; an anklet, an armlet, a bracelet, a wristlet.
        • 1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC:
          Most of the men and women […] had all earrings made of gold, and gold shackles about their legs and arms.
  3. (figurative, 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!
  5. (nautical) 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).
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
synonym of hobble or hopple — see hobble
link for connecting railroad cars — see drawbar
short for shackle-bone — see wrist

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English schakelen, schakkylen (“(also figurative) to put (someone) in shackles; to protect (legs) with greaves”),[3] from shakel, schakkyl, schakle (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs).[4][5]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive)
    1. To place (a person or animal) in shackles (noun sense 1); to immobilize or restrain using shackles.
      Synonyms: (obsolete) beshackle, cuff, enshackle, fetter, handcuff, manacle
      Antonyms: uncuff, unfetter, unhandcuff, unmanacle, unshackle
      • 1633, Hier[emas] Drexlius [i.e., Jeremias Drexel], “The Fifth Allurement to Incontinency, Wandring Eyes”, in R. S. [Robert Stanford?], transl., Nicetas or The Triumph ouer Incontinencie […], [Rouen, Normandy]: […] [The widow of N. Courant], →OCLC, book I, § II, page 56:
        A man giuen ouer to ſenſual appetite carrieth fetters in his eyes, vvhervvith he shackleth, glevv, vvhervvith he layeth faſt hold, hookes, vvhervvith he catcheth, flames vvhervvith he burneth, ſhafts, vvhervvith he transfixeth both his ovvne and the ſoules of other men: ſhackled vvith theſe fetters, caught vvith these hookes, burnt vvith theſe flames: transfixed vvith theſe ſhafts vvas the Aſſyrian Holofernes.
      • 1815, Thomas Richards, “Huelydd, sub.”, in Antiquæ Linguæ Britannicæ Thesaurus. A Welsh and English Dictionary: […], 2nd edition, Trefriw, Clwyd, Wales: […] I. Davies […], →OCLC, page 269, column 1:
        Huelydd, sub[stantive] a fetterer, he that shackleth or fettereth.
      • 1879, Henry Brugsch-Bey [i.e., Heinrich Karl Brugsch], “The Nineteenth Dynasty. The People of the Khita.”, in Henry Danby Seymour, Philip Smith, transl., edited by Philip Smith, A History of Egypt under the Pharaohs: Derived Entirely from the Monuments […], volume II, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 107:
        The chariot jumps, on which thou art. Thou art troubled to hold up thy horses. If it falls into the abyss, the pole drags thee down too. Thy ceintures are pulled away. They fall down. Thou shacklest the horse, because the pole is broken on the path of the narrow pass. Not knowing how to bind it up, thou understandest not how it is to be repaired.
      • 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “I Talk with Alan in the Wood of Lettermore”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 173:
        Nae doubt it's a hard thing to skulk and starve in the heather, but it's harder yet to lie shackled in a red-coat prison.
    2. To connect or couple (something) to another thing using a shackle (noun sense 1.1.1, sense 1.1.2, etc.).
    3. To provide (something) with a shackle.
    4. (figurative)
      1. To inhibit or restrain the ability, action, activity, or progress of (someone or something); to render (someone or something) incapable or ineffectual.
        Synonyms: bind, hamshackle, tie
        Antonyms: free, liberate, unbind, unshackle, untie
        This law would effectively shackle its opposition.
        • a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, “[The Second Booke Teachyng the Ready Way to the Latin Tong]”, in Margaret Ascham, editor, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], published 1570, →OCLC, folios 48, recto – 48, verso:
          [I]t were a plaine ſlauerie, & iniurie to, to ſhakkle and tye a good witte, and hinder the courſe of a mãs [man's] good nature with ſuch bondes of ſeruitude, in folowyng other.
        • 1632, Edward Reynolds, “The Life of Christ: Or, The Fellowship of the Saints with Him, in His Life, Sufferings, and Resurrection”, in Three Treatises of The Vanity of the Creature. The Sinfulnesse of Sinne. The Life of Christ. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke, […], →OCLC, page 416:
          Of it ſelfe it [the law] is the cord of a Iudge vvhich bindeth hand and foot, and ſhackleth unto condemnation; but by Chriſt it is made the cord of a man, and the band of Love, by vvhich he teacheth us to goe; even as a nurſe her infant.
        • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] LXXV. An Eagle and a Daw.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 74:
          An Eagle made a Stoop at a Lamb; Truſs'd it, and took it Cleverly avvay vvith her. A Mimical Davv, that ſavv This Exploit, vvould needs try the ſame Experiment upon a Ram: But his Clavvs vvere ſo Shackled in the Fleece vvith Lugging to get him up, that the Shepherd came in, and Caught him, before he could Cleare Himſelf; He Clipt his VVings, and carry'd him Home to his Children to Play vvithal.
        • 1974 February 5, Jim Stafford (lyrics and music), “Swamp Witch”, in Jim Stafford, performed by Jim Stafford, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.: MGM Records, →OCLC:
          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 Sport‎[1], archived from the original on 2024-05-08:
          [Wayne] Rooney, superbly shackled by City defender Vincent Kompany for so long as [Alex] 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.
      2. (chemistry, obsolete) To combine (a substance) with another substance.
        • 1675 April 4 (Gregorian calendar), Nehemiah Grew, “[Several Lectures Read before the Royal Society.] A Discourse of the Diversities and Causes of Tasts Chiefly in Plants. Read before the Royal Society, March 25. 1675. Chapter IV. Of the Causes of Tasts.”, in The Anatomy of Plants. […], [London]: […] W. Rawlins, for the author, published 1682, →OCLC, page 288:
          Bitterneſs is produced by a Sulphur vvell impregnated, either vvith an Alkaline, or an Acid Salt, but alſo ſhackled vvith Earth.
        • 1681, Nehemiah Grew, “Of Arborescent Plants”, in Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge. […], London: […] W. Rawlins, for the author, →OCLC, part II (Of Plants), page 224:
          [A] little of that Fixed Salt, ſerves, it ſeems, to Shackle or Cryſtallize (vvhich is a degree of Fixation) a very great quantity of the Eſſential Salt of this Plant.
  2. (intransitive, reflexive) Of two things: to connect or couple together.
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of shackle
infinitive (to) shackle
present tense past tense
1st-person singular shackle shackled
2nd-person singular shackle, shacklest† shackled, shackledst†
3rd-person singular shackles, shackleth† shackled
plural shackle
subjunctive shackle shackled
imperative shackle —
participles shackling shackled

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
(transitive) to connect or couple (a thing) to another thing using a shackle; (intransitive, reflexive) of two things: to connect or couple together — see connect,‎ couple

Etymology 3[edit]

From shack (“variant of shake”), shake (verb) +‎ -le (suffix forming agent nouns; frequentative suffix forming verbs).[6]

Noun[edit]

shackle (plural shackles) (UK, dialectal)

  1. A person who is idle or lazy; an idler.
  2. (dice games) A dice game; also, an event at which tickets are sold for chances to be drawn to win prizes; a raffle.
Translations[edit]
person who is idle or lazy — see idler
dice game — see dice game
event at which tickets are sold for chances to be drawn to win prizes — see raffle

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive)
    1. To rattle or shake (something).
    2. To put (something) into disorder; specifically (agriculture), to cause (standing stalks of corn) to fall over.
  2. (intransitive) Often followed by about: to be idle or lazy; to avoid work.
Translations[edit]
to rattle or shake (something) — see rattle,‎ shake
to put (something) into disorder — see disorder
to be idle or lazy — see idle,‎ laze

References[edit]

  1. ^ “shā̆kel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “shackle, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “shackle, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “shā̆kelen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ Compare “shackle, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “shackle, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. ^ “shackle, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “shackle, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Scots[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English sċacul, sċeacel, sċeacul (“fetter, shackle”), 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, compare the Oxford English Dictionary which doubts that English shackle is derived from *skeg-, *skek- as these roots lack the meaning of attaching or fastening.[1]

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

References[edit]

  1. ^ “shackle, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “shackle, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

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