fetter
See also: Fetter
English
Fetters in use.
Etymology
From Middle English feter, from Old English feter, Proto-West Germanic *fetur, from Proto-Germanic *feturaz (“fetter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot, step”). Cognate with Dutch veter (“lace”). Related to foot.
Pronunciation
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈfet.ə/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɛt.ə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈfɛt.ɚ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛtə(ɹ)
Noun
fetter (plural fetters)
- A chain or similar object used to bind a person or animal – often by its legs (usually in plural).
- (figurative) Anything that restricts or restrains.
- 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, Prologue:
- Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound.
- 1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 6, in Frankenstein:
- He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.
- 1910, Erwin Rosen, “Prolog”, in In the Foreign Legion, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2012:
- That was the turning-point of my life. I broke my fetters, and I fought a hard fight for a new career …
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Synonyms
(chains on legs):
- leg irons
Hyponyms
(chain binding generally):
- handcuff, handcuffs
- leg irons
- manacle, manacles
- shackle, shackles
Translations
object used to bind a person or animal by its legs
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anything that restricts or restrains in any way
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
fetter (third-person singular simple present fetters, present participle fettering, simple past and past participle fettered)
- (transitive) To shackle or bind up with fetters.
- 1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, OCLC 230944105, page 474:
- The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!
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- (transitive) To restrain or impede; to hamper.
Hyponyms
- handcuff
- manacle
- shackle
Derived terms
- unfetter
Translations
to shackle or bind up with fetters
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to restrain or impede
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈfɛtɐ]
Audio (file) - Homophone: Vetter
Adjective
fetter
- comparative degree of fett
- inflection of fett:
- strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
- strong genitive/dative feminine singular
- strong genitive plural
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Middle Low German vedder.
Noun
fetter m (definite singular fetteren, indefinite plural fettere, definite plural fetterne)
- a cousin (male)
Coordinate terms
- kusine
References
- “fetter” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Middle Low German vedder.
Noun
fetter m (definite singular fetteren, indefinite plural fetrar, definite plural fetrane)
- a male cousin
Coordinate terms
- kusine f (“female cousin”)
References
- “fetter” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Swedish
Noun
fetter
- indefinite plural of fett.
Vilamovian
Pronunciation
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: fet‧ter
Noun
fetter m (plural fettyn)
- paternal uncle (brother of someone’s father)