trammels

Noun

trammel (plural trammels)

1. Whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, such as a net or shackle.
   • [They] disclaim the trammels of any sordid contract.1825, Francis Jeffrey, “Campbell's Theodric”, in The Edinburgh Review January 1825
2. A fishing net that has large mesh at the edges and smaller mesh in the middle.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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
6. A kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making it amble.

See all 11 meanings of trammel