trammel en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈtræməl/
Etymology
From Middle English trameyle, from Old French tramail (“net for catching fish”), from Late Latin tremaculum, from tri- (“tri-”) + macula (“spot, speck; mesh, cell”). Cognate with Italian tramaglio (“trammel”), Spanish trasmallo (“drift net”).
Meanings
-
Whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, such as a net or shackle.
"Also, it would be convenient for spending the night - or, if you find that the trammels of convention still defy the peculiar circumstances, well, maybe we could make it two apartments."
1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 81:The men who came here were able to throw off all the trammels of tradition and established doctrine.
1898, William Graham Sumner, “The Conquest of the United States by Spain”, in War and Other Essays, Yale, published 1911, page 332:[They] disclaim the trammels of any sordid contract.
1825, Francis Jeffrey, “Campbell's Theodric”, in The Edinburgh Review January 1825:
- A fishing net that has large mesh at the edges and smaller mesh in the middle.
-
A kind of net for catching birds, fishes, or other prey.
1633, The tuck carrieth a like fashion , save that it is narrower meshed , and ( therefore scarce lawful ) with a long bunt in the midst : the trammel differeth not much from the shape of this bunt, and serveth to such use as the wear and haking.
- A vertical bar with several notches or chain of rings suspended over a fire, used to hang cooking pots by a hook which has an easily adjustable height.
-
Braids or plaits of hair.
Her golden lockes she roundly did uptye In breaded tramels, that no looser heares Did out of order stray about her daintie eares.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- A kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making it amble.
- 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.
- A beam compass.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| trammels | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
entrammel · trammeler · untrammel · trammel of Archimedes · trammel wheel
Translations (36)
de Kesselhaken (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · ru крючо́к (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · es llares (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · bg пречка (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · it griglia (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · sv hinder (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · sv grytkrok (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · it radiante (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · ru поме́ха (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · bg чатал (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · fi pidäke (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · it piastra (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · nb skjerding (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · de Fessel (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · sv tvångströja (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · cy bachyn crochan (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · fi patakoukku (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · cmn 桎梏 (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · fr crémaillère (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · gl atranco (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · ca clemàstecs (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · nl heugel (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · it riduzione (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · sv fjätter (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · sv band (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · de Hinderung (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · fi este (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · gl gramalleira (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · de Behinderung (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · es traba (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · it anello (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · gl péga (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · it rete (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · gl traba (something that impedes activity, freedom, or progress) · nl ketelhaak (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire) · lb Héil (device to suspend cooking pots over a fire)