[tram-uh
l] 
noun, verb, -meled, -mel⋅ing or (especially British) -melled, -mel⋅ling.| 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. |
| 8. | to involve or hold in trammels; restrain. |
| 9. | to catch or entangle in or as in a net. |
| tram·mel (trām'əl) n.
[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. |