Definition of "trammel" [tram•mel]

• A shackle used to teach a horse to amble. (noun)
• Something that restricts activity, expression, or progress; a restraint. (noun)
• A vertically set fishing net of three layers, consisting of a finely meshed net between two nets of coarse mesh. (noun)
• An instrument for describing ellipses. (noun)
• An instrument for gauging and adjusting parts of a machine; a tram. (noun)

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.

• "The most correct method of drawing an ellipse is by means of an instrument termed a trammel, which is shown in Figure 83."
• "Do you mean to prohibit the trammel, which is usually a treble and not a double net?"
• "From all which it is, I think, manifest that the men who framed these documents, desirous above all things of cutting themselves and their people loose from every kind of trammel, still felt the necessity of enforcing religion — of making it, to a certain extent, a matter of State duty."