Fetter
['fetə] or ['fɛtɚ]
Definition
(noun.) a shackle for the ankles or feet.
(verb.) restrain with fetters.
Typist: Michael--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A chain or shackle for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or disabled from free and rapid motion; a bond; a shackle.
(n.) Anything that confines or restrains; a restraint.
(p. pr. & vb. n.) To put fetters upon; to shackle or confine the feet of with a chain; to bind.
(p. pr. & vb. n.) To restrain from motion; to impose restraints on; to confine; to enchain; as, fettered by obligations.
Editor: Rosanne
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Shackle (for the feet), chain, bond, clog, hamper.
v. a. [1]. Shackle (the feet), clog, trammel, hamper, put fetters on.[2]. Chain, bind, tie, confine, restrain.
Checked by Adrienne
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Manacle, hinder, restrain, clog, impede, shackle
ANT:Free, liberate, expedite, accelerate
Checked by Bernie
Definition
n. a chain or shackle for the feet: anything that restrains—used chiefly in pl.—v.t. to put fetters on: to restrain.—adjs. Fett′ered bound by fetters: (zool.) of feet bent backward and apparently unfit for walking; Fett′erless without fetters unrestrained.—n. Fett′erlock (her.) a shackle or lock.
Typist: Murray
Examples
- The last I saw of him, his head was bent over his knee and he was working hard at his fetter, muttering impatient imprecations at it and at his leg. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- No way but to fetter 'em; got legs,--they'll use 'em,--no mistake. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- How they must have tugged at the pitiless fetters as the fierce fires surged around them! Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Conscience, and honour, and the most despotic necessity dragged me apart from her, and kept me sundered with ponderous fetters. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Though his love was as chaste as that of Petrarch for his Laura, it had made fetters of what previously was only a difficulty. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- As for me, every word was a new heap of fetters, riveted above the last. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Our deeds are fetters that we forge ourselves. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Here Tom made some movement of his feet, and George's eye fell on the fetters. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- These yer 's a little too small for his build, said Haley, showing the fetters, and pointing out to Tom. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- She saw clearly enough the whole situation, yet she was fettered: she could not smite the stricken soul that entreated hers. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Will Miss Lucy be the sister of a very poor, fettered, burdenedencumbered man? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- I sank down in a chair, and tried to utter some reply; but my tongue was fettered, and my sight was weak. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Black chaos comes, and the fettered gods of the earth say, Let there be light. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- If ever an oppressed race existed, it is this one we see fettered around us under the inhuman tyranny of the Ottoman Empire. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Certainly Crispin knew, but Crispin, fettered by his promise of secrecy, was unable to solve the problem. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- If he were not only to sink from his highest resolve, but to sink into the hideous fettering of domestic hate? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- She rattled on: My present business is to enjoy youth, and not to think of fettering myself, by promise or vow, to this man or that. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Checker: Scott