Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Shackle

Shac′kle (shăk′k'l), n. Stubble. [Prov. Eng.] Pegge.

Shac′kle, n. [Generally used in the plural.] [OE. schakkyll, schakle, AS. scacul, sceacul, a shackle, fr. scacan to shake; cf. D. schakel a link of a chain, a mesh, Icel. skökull the pole of a cart. See Shake.] 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. Spenser.

2. Hence, that which checks or prevents free action.

His very will seems to be in bonds and shackles. South.

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. Dampier.

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. Knight.

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.

Shac′kle (shăk′k'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shackled; p. pr. & vb. n. 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. J. Philips.

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. Walpole.

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. Sir W. Scott.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.