straightjacket

[streyt-jak-it]

noun, verb (used with object)

straitjacket.

Nearby words

straitjacket

or straight·jack·et

[streyt-jak-it]

noun

a garment made of strong material and designed to bind the arms, as of a violently disoriented person.

anything that severely confines, constricts, or hinders: Conventional attitudes can be a straitjacket, preventing original thinking.

verb (used with object) Also strait-jack·et.

to put in or as in a straitjacket: Her ambition was straitjacketed by her family.

Origin of straitjacket

First recorded in 1805–15; strait + jacket

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

Examples from the Web for straightjacket

She must put the straightjacket on the patient when I have talked to him and given the order!
Plays: The Father; Countess Julie; The Outlaw; The Stronger|August Strindberg
We must try to prevent further violence and the doctor has sent to the hospital for a straightjacket.
Plays: The Father; Countess Julie; The Outlaw; The Stronger|August Strindberg
I always scheduled her last, so that I could exceed the 45 minutes straightjacket of the classic therapy session.
The Capgras Shift|Sam Vaknin

British Dictionary definitions for straightjacket

straightjacket

noun

a less common spelling of straitjacket

straitjacket

noun

Also called: straightjacket a jacket made of strong canvas material with long sleeves for binding the arms of violent prisoners or mentally ill patients

a severe restriction or limitation

verb

(tr) to confine in or as if in a straitjacket

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

Medicine definitions for straightjacket

straitjacket

n.

A long-sleeved jacketlike garment used to bind the arms tightly against the body as a means of restraining a violent person.