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trammel - 5 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


tram⋅mel⋅er; especially British, tram⋅mel⋅ler, noun


1. drag, hobble, curb, inhibition. 8. hinder, impede, obstruct, encumber.
tram·mel   (trām'əl)   
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.

Trammel

Tram"mel\, n. [F. tramail, tr['e]mail, a net, LL. tremaculum, tremacle, a kind of net for taking fish; L. tres three + macula a mesh. See Three, and Mail armor.]

1. A kind of net for catching birds, fishes, or other prey. --Carew.

2. A net for confining a woman's hair. --Spenser.

3. A kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making him amble.

4. Fig.: Whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, as a net or shackle.

[They] disdain the trammels of any sordid contract. --Jeffrey.

5. An iron hook of various forms and sizes, used for handing kettles and other vessels over the fire.

6. (Mech.) (a) 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. (b) A beam compass. See under Beam.

Trammel

Tram"mel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Trammeledor Trammelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Trammeling, or Trammelling.]

1. To entangle, as in a net; to catch. [R.] --Shak.

2. To confine; to hamper; to shackle.

trammel  (n.)
1363 (implied in trammeller) "net to catch fish," from M.Fr. tramail, from O.Fr. (c.1220), from L.L. tremaculum, perhaps meaning "a net made from three layers of meshes," from L. tri- "three" + macula "a mesh." It. tramaglio, Sp. trasmallo are Fr. loan-words. The verb is attested from 1536, originally "to bind up (a corpse);" sense of "hinder, restrain" is from 1727.
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