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.
Origin of trammel
1325–75;Middle Englishtramayle < Middle Frenchtramail, variant of tremail three-mesh net < Late Latintrēmaculum, equivalent to Latintrē(s) three + macula mesh
Related formstram·mel·er; especially British, tram·mel·ler, nounun·tram·meled, adjectiveun·tram·melled, adjective
(often plural)a hindrance to free action or movement
Also called: trammel neta fishing net in three sections, the two outer nets having a large mesh and the middle one a fine mesh
rarea fowling net
USa 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
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.
v.
1530s, originally "to bind up (a corpse);" sense of "hinder, restrain" is from 1727, from trammel (n.). Related: Trammeled; trammeling.
