manacle

American  

[man-uh-kuhl] / ˈmæn ə kəl /

noun

1. a shackle for the hand; handcuff.

2. Usually manacles. restraints; checks.

---

verb (used with object)

manacled, manacling

1. to handcuff; fetter.

2. to hamper; restrain.

   He was manacled by his inhibitions.

manacle British  

/ ˈmænəkəl /

noun

1. (usually plural) a shackle, handcuff, or fetter, used to secure the hands of a prisoner, convict, etc

---

verb

1. to put manacles on

2. to confine or constrain

Other Word Forms

• unmanacled adjective

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

Example Sentences

“We’ll get you fixed up, Phillip,” Jack said softly as he carefully sliced through the prince’s manacles with the witch’s knife.

From Literature

Initially modeled in plaster and later cast in bronze, “The Freedman” portrays a formerly enslaved man clad in a loincloth, his left arm in manacles, his right breaking free from the chains of bondage.

From New York Times

“He said he’d go to his grave with the manacles of Iraq,” said retired Col.

From Seattle Times

Art, perhaps better than anything else, can do that: liberate us, if fleetingly, imperfectly from the manacles that bind us.

From New York Times

Only after a moment do you see the iron manacles between the waves — a Romantic liberty Turner took.

From New York Times