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Trammeler - 3 dictionary results

tram⋅mel

   [tram-uhl]
noun, verb, -meled, -mel⋅ing or (especially British) -melled, -mel⋅ling.
–noun
1. Usually, trammels. a hindrance or impediment to free action; restraint: the trammels of custom.
2. an instrument for drawing ellipses.
3. Also called tram. a device used to align or adjust parts of a machine.
4. trammel net.
5. a fowling net.
6. a contrivance hung in a fireplace to support pots or kettles over the fire.
7. a fetter or shackle, esp. one used in training a horse to amble.
–verb (used with object)
8. to involve or hold in trammels; restrain.
9. to catch or entangle in or as in a net.
Origin:
1325–75; ME tramayle < MF tramail, var. of tremail three-mesh net < LL trēmaculum, equiv. to L trē(s) three + macula mesh
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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tram·mel     (trām'əl)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A shackle used to teach a horse to amble.
  2. Something that restricts activity, expression, or progress; a restraint.
  3. A vertically set fishing net of three layers, consisting of a finely meshed net between two nets of coarse mesh.
  4. An instrument for describing ellipses.
  5. An instrument for gauging and adjusting parts of a machine; a tram.
  6. An arrangement of links and a hook in a fireplace for raising and lowering a kettle.
tr.v.   tram·meled or tram·melled, tram·mel·ing or tram·mel·ling, tram·mels
  1. To enmesh in or as if in a fishing net. See Synonyms at hamper1.
  2. To hinder the activity or free movement of.

[Middle English tramale, a kind of net, from Old French tramail, from Late Latin trēmaculum : Latin trēs, three; see trei- in Indo-European roots + Latin macula, mesh.]
tram'mel·er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Trammeler

Tram"mel*er\, n. [Written also trammeller.]

1. One who uses a trammel net. --Nares.

2. One who, or that which, trammels or restrains.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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