From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishshackleshack‧le1 /ˈʃækəl/ noun [countable] 1 → the shackles of something2 SCJone of a pair of metal rings joined by a chain that are used for fastening together a prisoner’s hands or feet, so that they cannot move easily or escape → handcuffs
Examples from the Corpus
shackle• It was as though she'd been let loose from shackles she hadn't even known she'd been wearing.• They put my grandson in shackles once on a little drug charge.• Every few years the industry begins a campaign, backed in medical journals, for release from its shackles.• Emboldened by what she saw her friend get away with, Diana felt able to loosen the shackles a little.• And to Return, free of the shackles of human physical embodiment.• These programs were designed to remove the shackles so that black people could reach the starting line on an equal footing.shackleshackle2 verb [transitive] 1 LIMITto put many limits on what someone can do – used to show disapproval Industrial progress is being shackled by a mass of regulations.2 SCJto put shackles on someone SYN chain He was blindfolded and shackled to a radiator.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
shackle• Emmanuel suffered a miscarriage two weeks later and was taken to the hospital shackled and handcuffed.• The company is shackled by a lack of capital.• In a society still shackled by regulations and bureaucracy he was astonishingly impudent.• Facing such a large first innings total, the batsmen were shackled by the need to save the game.• In short, many Unix vendors are shackled by their desire to own everything.• Baseball owners, once thought to be shackled by tradition, are on a roll.• They destroyed the seminary, arrested Pigneau and shackled him in an eighty-pound wood and iron frame.• He will already be there, shackled, so there is no danger.• The prisoners were shackled together and forced to walk 600 miles across country.Origin shackle Old English sceacul (singular) 