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fetter

6 dictionary results for: fetter

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

fet·ter

[fet-er] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a chain or shackle placed on the feet.

2.	Usually, fetters. anything that confines or restrains: Boredom puts fetters upon the imagination.

–verb (used with object)

3.	to put fetters upon.

4.	to confine; restrain.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE feter; c. OHG fezzera, ON fjǫturr; akin to foot

]

—Related forms

fet·ter·er, noun

fet·ter·less, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fet·ter (fět'ər) Pronunciation Key
n.

A chain or shackle for the ankles or feet.
Something that serves to restrict; a restraint.

tr.v. fet·tered, fet·ter·ing, fet·ters

To put fetters on; shackle.
To restrict the freedom of. See Synonyms at hamper¹.

[Middle English feter, from Old English; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]

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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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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fetter (n.)

O.E. feter "chain or shackle for the feet," from P.Gmc. *fetero (cf. Du. veter, O.H.G. fezzera, O.N. fioturr), from PIE root *ped- "foot" (see foot). The generalized sense of "anything that shackles" had evolved in O.E. The verb is first recorded c.1300.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

fetter
noun
1.	a shackle for the ankles or feet
verb
1.	restrain with fetters

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Fetter

Fet"ter\, n. [AS. fetor, feter; akin to OS. feter?s, pl., OD. veter, OHG. fezzera, Icel. fj["o]turr, L. pedi?a, Gr. ?, and to E. foot. [root] 77. See Foot.] [Chiefly used in the plural, fetters.]

1. A chain or shackle for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or disabled from free and rapid motion; a bond; a shackle.

[They] bound him with fetters of brass. --Judg. xvi. 21.

2. Anything that confines or restrains; a restraint.

Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound. --Dryden.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Fetter

Fet"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fettered; p. pr. & vb. n. Fettering.]

1. To put fetters upon; to shackle or confine the feet of with a chain; to bind.

My heels are fettered, but my fist is free. --Milton.

2. To restrain from motion; to impose restraints on; to confine; to enchain; as, fettered by obligations.

My conscience! thou art fettered More than my shanks and wrists. --Shak.

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