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Definition of shackle noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

shackle

noun
 
/ˈʃækl/
 
/ˈʃækl/
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  1. [countable, usually plural] a metal ring placed around a prisoner’s wrist or ankle and joined by a chain to something, or to a shackle on the other wrist or ankle, to prevent the prisoner from escaping or moving easily
  2. shackles
     [plural] shackles (of something) (formal) a particular state, set of conditions or circumstances, etc. that prevent you from saying or doing what you want
    • a country struggling to free itself from the shackles of colonialism
    3. Word OriginOld English sc(e)acul ‘fetter’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch schakel ‘link, coupling’.
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trait
noun
 
 
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