- 1two metal rings joined together by a chain and placed around a prisoner's wrists or ankles to prevent them from escaping or moving easily
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- 2shackles (of something) (formal) a particular state, set of conditions or circumstances, etc. that prevents you from saying or doing what you want a country struggling to free itself from the shackles of colonialism
Check pronunciation: shackles