manacle
Americannoun
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a shackle for the hand; handcuff.
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Usually manacles. restraints; checks.
verb (used with object)
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to handcuff; fetter.
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to hamper; restrain.
He was manacled by his inhibitions.
noun
verb
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to put manacles on
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to confine or constrain
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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manaclesimple
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manaclessimple
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have manacledperfect
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has manacledperfect
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am manaclingprogressive
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are manaclingprogressive
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is manaclingprogressive
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have been manaclingperfect progressive
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has been manaclingperfect progressive
Past
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manacledsimple
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had manacledperfect
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was manaclingprogressive
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were manaclingprogressive
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had been manaclingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of manacle
1275–1325; Middle English, variant of manicle < Middle French: handcuff < Latin manicula small hand, handle of a plow. See manus, -i-, -cle 1
Explanation
If a police officer has to manacle your hands behind your back, you're in big trouble. That's just a fancy way of saying that you've been handcuffed. Used as a noun, manacle is a synonym for shackle, meaning "a metal chain or band, used to fasten someone’s hands or ankles together." You’re more likely to see the noun form of this word in its plural form manacles, since — like socks or mittens — a pair is usually required. (Quite unlike socks or mittens, manacles are not at all comfortable or pleasant to wear.) You can say that someone who has been restrained using manacles has been manacled.
Vocabulary lists containing manacle
Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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Night
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Just before World War II, the rock island of Manacle Shoal in the Caribbean is being tunneled to serve as an unsinkable ammunition ship.
From Time Magazine Archive
For my sake weare this, It is a Manacle of Loue, Ile place it Vpon this fayrest Prisoner Imo.
From Cymbeline by Shakespeare, William
Warriner followed without delay, and when he was just past the Manacle rocks, the wind dropped.
From Miranda of the Balcony A Story by Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodle)
Manacle, man′a-kl, n. a handcuff.—v.t. to put manacles on: to restrain the use of the limbs or any of the natural powers.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
