ball and chain
a heavy iron ball fastened by a chain to a prisoner's leg.
a burdensome restraint: The steady accumulation of small debts was a ball and chain to his progress.
Facetious Slang: Often Offensive. a person's spouse or romantic partner, especially a female.
Origin of ball and chain
1usage note For ball and chain
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use ball and chain in a sentence
The former prime minister trades bunga-bunga for ball-and-chain as he announces engagement to 27-year-old Francesca Pascale.
Berlusconi Announces May-December Engagement | Barbie Latza Nadeau | December 17, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTWhat a ghastly prison marriage was, he thought, a thing as hostile to the free human spirit as an iron ball-and-chain.
The Brimming Cup | Dorothy Canfield FisherYesterday the President remitted the sentence of a poor lad, sentenced to ball-and-chain for six months, for cowardice, etc.
A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital | John Beauchamp JonesI say your old rag of a Constitution is a ball-and-chain on your national leg.
Cavanagh: Forest Ranger | Hamlin Garland
British Dictionary definitions for ball and chain
(formerly) a heavy iron ball attached to a chain and fastened to a prisoner
a heavy restraint
slang a wife
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with ball and chain
A burden and restraint, as in Karen regarded her job as a ball and chain, but she needed the money. The term, dating from the early 1800s, alludes to chaining a heavy iron ball to a prisoner's leg. Later it was transferred to other kinds of restraining burden.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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