trammel

[ tram-uhl ]

/ ˈtræm əl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR trammel ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Usually trammels. a hindrance or impediment to free action; restraint: the trammels of custom.

an instrument for drawing ellipses.

Also called tram. a device used to align or adjust parts of a machine.

trammel net.

a fowling net.

a contrivance hung in a fireplace to support pots or kettles over the fire.

a fetter or shackle, especially one used in training a horse to amble.

verb (used with object), tram·meled, tram·mel·ing or (especially British) tram·melled, tram·mel·ling.

to involve or hold in trammels; restrain.

to catch or entangle in or as in a net.

Nearby words

Origin of trammel

1325–75; Middle English tramayle < Middle French tramail, variant of tremail three-mesh net < Late Latin trēmaculum, equivalent to Latin trē(s) three + macula mesh

SYNONYMS FOR trammel

1 drag, hobble, curb, inhibition.

8 hinder, impede, obstruct, encumber.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR trammel ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formstram·mel·er; especially British, tram·mel·ler, nounun·tram·meled, adjectiveun·tram·melled, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for trammel

The only tools desirable to provide, in addition to those previously used, are a trammel and spokeshave or a circle plane.
The Library of Work and Play: Home Decoration|Charles Franklin Warner
This veto power was a trammel, and an unnecessary restraint on the freedom of legislation.
History of the Constitutions of Iowa|Benjamin F. Shambaugh
He rose and walked to the edge of the veranda, and stretched himself as if to shake off some trammel of thought.
A Tar-Heel Baron|Mabell Shippie Clarke Pelton
No Constitution, it is true, can "trammel up" facts and put power anywhere but where nature puts it.
Appearances|Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson

Reason is confined within none of the partitions which trammel it in life.
The Book-lover|James Baldwin

British Dictionary definitions for trammel

trammel

/ (ˈtræməl) /

noun

(often plural) a hindrance to free action or movement

Also called: trammel net a fishing net in three sections, the two outer nets having a large mesh and the middle one a fine mesh

rare a fowling net

US a fetter or shackle, esp one used in teaching a horse to amble

a device for drawing ellipses consisting of a flat sheet of metal, plastic, or wood having a cruciform slot in which run two pegs attached to a beam. The free end of the beam describes an ellipse

(sometimes plural) another name for beam compass

Also called: tram a gauge for setting up machines correctly

a device set in a fireplace to support cooking pots

verb -els, -elling or -elled or US -els, -eling or -eled (tr)

to hinder or restrain

to catch or ensnare

to produce an accurate setting of (a machine adjustment), as with a trammel

Derived Formstrammeller or US trammeler, noun

Word Origin for trammel

C14: from Old French tramail three-mesh net, from Late Latin trēmaculum, from Latin trēs three + macula hole, mesh in a net

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 trammel (1 of 2)

trammel

mid-14c. (implied in trammeller) "net to catch fish," from Middle French tramail, from Old French (early 13c.), from Late Latin tremaculum, perhaps meaning "a net made from three layers of meshes," from Latin tri- "three" + macula "a mesh" (see mail (2)). Italian tramaglio, Spanish trasmallo are French loan-words.

Word Origin and History for trammel (1 of 2)

trammel

1530s, originally "to bind up (a corpse);" sense of "hinder, restrain" is from 1727, from trammel (n.). Related: Trammeled; trammeling.

trammel

noun

verb (used with object), tram·meled, tram·mel·ing or (especially British) tram·melled, tram·mel·ling.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of trammel

Examples from the Web for trammel

British Dictionary definitions for trammel

trammel

noun

verb -els, -elling or -elled or US -els, -eling or -eled (tr)

Word Origin for trammel

Word Origin and History for trammel (1 of 2)

trammel

Word Origin and History for trammel (1 of 2)

trammel