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Webster 1913 Edition


Trammel

Tram′mel

,
Noun.
[F.
tramail
,
trémail
, 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
.

Tram′mel

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Trammeled
or
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.

Webster 1828 Edition


Trammel

TRAM'MEL

, n.
1.
A kind of long net for catching birds or fishes.
The trammel differs not much from the shape of the bunt.
2.
A kind of shackles used for regulating the motions of a horse, and making him amble.
3.
An iron hook, of various forms and sizes, used for hanging kettles and other vessels over the fire.
4.
Trammels, in mechanics, a joiner's instrument for drawing ovals upon boards. One part consists of a cross with two grooves at right angles; the other is a beam carrying two pins which slide in those grooves, and also the describing pencil.

TRAM'MEL

, v.t.
1.
To catch; to intercept.
2.
To confine; to hamper; to shackle.

Definition 2024


trammel

trammel

English

Noun

trammel (plural trammels)

  1. Whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, as a net or shackle.
  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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Carew to this entry?)
  4. A set of rings or other hanging devices, attached to a transverse bar suspended over a fire, used to hang cooking pots etc.
  5. A net for confining a woman's hair.
    • (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)
  6. A kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making him amble.
  7. (engineering) 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.
  8. A beam compass
Translations

Verb

trammel (third-person singular simple present trammels, present participle (UK) trammelling or (US) trammeling, simple past and past participle (UK) trammelled or (US) trammeled)

  1. To entangle, as in a net.
    • 1880 Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, lines 9-10
      the scarce-snatched hours
      Which deepening pain left to his lordliest powers: —
      Heaven lost through spider-trammelled prison-bars.
  2. (transitive) To confine; to hamper; to shackle.
    • 1948, Winston Churchill, The Second World War
      Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness.
Translations