Definition of "shackle" [shac•kle]

• A metal fastening, usually one of a pair, for encircling and confining the ankle or wrist of a prisoner or captive; a fetter or manacle. (noun)
• A hobble for an animal. (noun)
• Any of several devices, such as a clevis, used to fasten or couple. (noun)
• A restraint or check to action or progress. Often used in the plural: economic shackles that precluded further investment. (noun)
• To confine with shackles; fetter. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""Is a title worth it-- does a title shackle a person?" the former Alaska governor asked during a discussion of her 2012 plans"
• "She trotted out a line she's used before - going back, as JMart points out, at least a year to her fall appearance in Iowa - where she asked this question, Does a title shackle a person..."
• "In fact, the chain shackle and wire rope clambered, as it were, up out of the groove on the right-hand side of the V of the wheel, got on the top of the rim of the V-wheel, and rushed down with a crash on the smaller wheel, giving, no doubt, a severe shock to the cable to which it was attached."