FETTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fetter mean? 

• FETTER (noun)
  The noun FETTER has 1 sense:

1. a shackle for the ankles or feet

  Familiarity information: FETTER used as a noun is very rare.

• FETTER (verb)
  The verb FETTER has 1 sense:

1. restrain with fetters

  Familiarity information: FETTER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FETTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A shackle for the ankles or feet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fetter; hobble

Hypernyms ("fetter" is a kind of...):

bond; hamper; shackle; trammel (a restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner))

Derivation:

fetter (restrain with fetters)

• FETTER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fetter    ... he / she / it fetters   
Past simple: fettered   
Past participle: fettered   
-ing form: fettering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Restrain with fetters

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

fetter; shackle

Hypernyms (to "fetter" is one way to...):

confine; constrain; hold; restrain (to close within bounds, or otherwise limit or deprive of free movement)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fetter"):

cuff; handcuff; manacle (confine or restrain with or as if with manacles or handcuffs)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to fetter the prisoners

Derivation:

fetter (a shackle for the ankles or feet)

 Context examples 

The shortness of his visit, the steadiness of his purpose in leaving them, originated in the same fettered inclination, the same inevitable necessity of temporizing with his mother.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

As for me, every word was a new heap of fetters, riveted above the last.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But in his countenance I saw a change: that looked desperate and brooding—that reminded me of some wronged and fettered wild beast or bird, dangerous to approach in his sullen woe.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Now it bound him with insentient fetters, walling his soul in darkness and silence, blocking it from the world which to him had been a riot of action.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Also, his love of freedom chafed against the restriction in much the same way his neck chafed against the starched fetter of a collar.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I sank down in a chair, and tried to utter some reply; but my tongue was fettered, and my sight was weak.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And at any rate, she lost nothing by continuing the engagement, for she has proved that it fettered neither her inclination nor her actions.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Then again the kindly influence ceased to act—I found myself fettered again to grief and indulging in all the misery of reflection.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

"But where is the use of going on," I asked, "when you are probably preparing some iron blow of contradiction, or forging a fresh chain to fetter your heart?"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)