shackle
shack|le /ʃ'ækəl/ (shackles shackling shackled)
1 [VERB] usu passive, be V-ed by/to n, be V-ed by/to n
If you are shackled by something, it prevents you from doing what you want to do. (FORMAL)
The trade unions are shackled by the law.
...people who find themselves shackled to a high-stress job.
2 [N-PLURAL] with supp
If you throw off the shackles of something, you reject it or free yourself from it because it was preventing you from doing what you wanted to do. (LITERARY)
...a country ready to throw off the shackles of its colonial past.
3 [N-PLURAL]
Shackles are two metal rings joined by a chain which are fastened around someone's wrists or ankles in order to prevent them from moving or escaping.
He unbolted the shackles on Billy's hands.
4 [VERB] V n
To shackle someone means to put shackles on them.
...the chains that were shackling his legs...
1 [VERB] usu passive, be V-ed by/to n, be V-ed by/to n
If you are shackled by something, it prevents you from doing what you want to do. (FORMAL)
The trade unions are shackled by the law.
...people who find themselves shackled to a high-stress job.
2 [N-PLURAL] with supp
If you throw off the shackles of something, you reject it or free yourself from it because it was preventing you from doing what you wanted to do. (LITERARY)
...a country ready to throw off the shackles of its colonial past.
3 [N-PLURAL]
Shackles are two metal rings joined by a chain which are fastened around someone's wrists or ankles in order to prevent them from moving or escaping.
He unbolted the shackles on Billy's hands.
4 [VERB] V n
To shackle someone means to put shackles on them.
...the chains that were shackling his legs...