straitjacket
or straight·jack·et
[streyt-jak-it]
- 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.
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- to put in or as in a straitjacket: Her ambition was straitjacketed by her family.
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Origin of straitjacket
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words for straitjacket
embargo, restriction, constraint, prohibition, reduction, limit, ban, curb, cramp, weight, imprisonment, obstruction, obstacle, decrease, interdict, check, stoppage, repression, arrest, impedimentExamples from the Web for straitjacket
Contemporary Examples of straitjacket
What matters now for Rowhani is whether he can get anything done within the straitjacket imposed by Khamenei.
“I hope that the visit and U.S. engagement will put the generals in a straitjacket,” said Aung Zaw.
Historical Examples of straitjacket
His arms were inserted in the long, closed sleeves of the straitjacket.
The Adventurous Life of a Versatile Artist: HoudiniHarry Houdini
His first move was to take the straitjacket in his own hands and order me to stand.
A Mind That Found ItselfClifford Whittingham Beers
Then she takes out the straitjacket and goes behind the chair.
Plays: The Father; Countess Julie; The Outlaw; The StrongerAugust Strindberg
You ought to be put in a straitjacket and drenched with cold water.
The ShuttleFrances Hodgson Burnett
Finally even the old nurse is induced to betray him: she slips the straitjacket over him, adding the last touch to the treachery.
The Social Significance of the Modern DramaEmma Goldman
straitjacket
- 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
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- (tr) to confine in or as if in a straitjacket
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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
straitjacket
- A long-sleeved jacketlike garment used to bind the arms tightly against the body as a means of restraining a violent person.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.