What does "trammel" mean?
Trammel: A net for confining a woman's hair. Spenser.
Additional senses
- 2.A kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making him amble.
- 3.Fig.: Whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, as a net or shackle. [They] disdain the trammels of any sordid contract. Jeffrey.
- 4.An iron hook of various forms and sizes, used for handing kettles and other vessels over the fire.
- 5.(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.
- 6.To entangle, as in a net; to catch. [R.] Shak.
- 7.To confine; to hamper; to shackle.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00