fetter

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a chain or shackle placed around the feet or legs to restrict movement

   The prisoner walked slowly because an iron fetter joined his ankles.

2. 2
   noun

   something that restricts freedom or progress

   The reformers saw the old regulations as a fetter on innovation.

3. 3
   verb

   to restrain, bind, or limit someone or something

   Fear should not fetter our ability to ask difficult questions.

From Middle English feter and Old English feter, 'a chain for the feet,' from a Germanic word related ultimately to the Indo-European root *ped-, 'foot.' Cognates include Old Norse fjoturr and Dutch veter. The figurative use treats any restriction as if it were a physical shackle.

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