Trammel /(?)/
Tram·mel
Trammel
n.
- A kind of net for catching birds, fishes, or other prey.
- A net for confining a woman's hair.
- A kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making him amble.
-
Fig.: Whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, as a net or shackle.
[They] disdain the trammels of any sordid contract.
- An iron hook of various forms and sizes, used for handing kettles and other vessels over the fire.
- An instrument for drawing ellipses, one part of which consists of a cross with two grooves at right angles to each other, the other being a beam carrying two pins (which slide in those grooves), and also the describing pencil. (Mech.)
Trammel
v. t.
imp. & p. p. Trammeled; p. pr. & vb. n. Trammeling
- To entangle, as in a net; to catch. [R.]
- To confine; to hamper; to shackle.