handcuff

[hand-kuhf]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR handcuff ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a ring-shaped metal device that can be locked around a person's wrist, usually one of a pair connected by a short chain or linked bar; shackle: The police put handcuffs on the suspect.

verb (used with object)

to put handcuffs on.

to restrain or thwart (someone) by or as if by handcuffing: The amendments handcuffed the committee and prevented further action.

RELATED WORDS

wristlets, braces

Nearby words

Origin of handcuff

First recorded in 1635–45; hand + cuff¹

Related formsun·hand·cuff, verb (used with object)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for handcuffs

“Defendant moved his hands in a manner so as to avoid the application of handcuffs to his wrists,” the complaint says.
Protesters Slimed This Good Samaritan Cop|Michael Daly|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He had been left hanging, by handcuffs and not allowed to lower his arms for 22 hours each day for two consecutive days.
Inside the CIA’s Sadistic Dungeon|Tim Mak|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“While in the building, I was kept on a hard floor in handcuffs and in leg irons,” he says.
What It’s Like to Be Snatched by the Delta Force|Michael Daly|October 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Minutes later, the man whose cause was in question was on the ground, surrounded by police who dragged him away in handcuffs.
Occupy Climate Change! Hundreds Blame Capitalism at Flood Wall Street Rally|Jacob Siegel|September 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST

I was kept in handcuffs for the whole time I was in hospital for the transplant—28 days and 28 nights—which is ludicrous.
'Lord Fraud' Gets Out of Jail, Back Into Orgies|Tom Sykes|August 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But they were not yet in my possession; moreover, the key of the handcuffs might not be amongst the bunch.
The Devil Doctor|Sax Rohmer
Copley was done and submitted quietly to have the handcuffs put upon his wrists.
Hard Pressed|Fred M. White
They had left him with the handcuffs on his wrists; they would come and relieve him of these encumbrances.
The Secret House|Edgar Wallace
And the more I think, the more I comprehend, the worse the handcuffs cut into my wrists.
Sudden Jim|Clarence Budington Kelland
But to hold out one's own hands to the handcuffs is too silly.
813|Maurice Leblanc

British Dictionary definitions for handcuffs

handcuff

verb

(tr) to put handcuffs on (a person); manacle

noun

(plural) a pair of locking metal rings joined by a short bar or chain for securing prisoners, etc

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

Word Origin and History for handcuffs

handcuff

1640s as a decorative addition to a sleeve; 1690s as a type of restraining device, from hand (n.) + cuff (n.). Old English had hondcops "a pair of hand cuffs," but the modern word is a re-invention. The verb is first attested 1720. Related: Handcuffed; handcuffing.