fetter

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“
But how was the fetter smithied This I can tell thee,' replied Har, 'that the fetter was as smooth and soft as a silken string, and yet, as thou wilt presently hear, of very great strength.

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A chain or shackle for the ankles or feet.
  2. noun Something that serves to restrict; a restraint.
  3. transitive verb To put fetters on; shackle.
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • How to break that fetter was the narrow, simple problem. —  Abraham Lincoln, A History, Volume 2
  • Or, are fetters the province of consumers in the market place - which I wouldn't count as a fetter? —  The Nation: Top Stories
  • Each must lose self in the other; both must merge themselves in devotion to a common good; or the bond becomes a fetter, and the home a prison. —  Practical Ethics
  • Did it always happen that when the loins were girded to run a race, depression fell like a fetter, and the question tortured: "Is it worth while? —  Tom and Some Other Girls A Public School Story
  • And now she wore a fetter, albeit of gold, on her hand It had been her habit to think of herself with pity as friendless in those days; forgetful of the good doctor and his wife, Agnes Pringle and even Mr. Wynne, not to speak of her humbler friends, the gardener's wife and children, and the good Kate. —  The Land of Promise
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

fetter:   fettered
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English feter, from Old English; see ped- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English feter, from Anglo-Saxon fetor, feter = Old Saxon feterōs, fiteriōs, plural, = Old High German fezzera, Middle High German vezzer, German dial. fesser = Icelandic fjöturr = Swedish fjetter, fetter, = Norwegian fjetra, a wooden pin, a trunnel; akin to L. pedica, a fetter, compes (comped-), a fetter, Greek πέδη, a fetter; from the orig. form of foot, Anglo-Saxon fōt, etc., = Latin pes (ped-) = Greek πούς (ποδ-) = Sanskrit pad: see foot. Prob. not related to Anglo-Saxon fetel, a fetter, chain, belt, girdle, = Old High German fezzil, Middle High German vezzel, German fessel, a belt, sword-belt (German fessel having now taken the place of fesser, in sense of fetter), = Norwegian futul, a fetter, = Icelandic fetill, a belt, strap. See fettle.
  2. from Middle English feteren, from Anglo-Saxon gefeterian = Old High German gifezzaron = Icelandic fjötra = Swedish fjettra, fetter, = Norwegian fjetra, fix, hold fast, hold spellbound; from the noun. Cf. German fesseln = Norwegian futla, fetter: see fetter, n.
 

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/ˈfɛtər/
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