trammel
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
trammel /ˈtram(ə)l/
▶noun
- 1 (trammels) literary restrictions or impediments to freedom of action.
- 2 (also trammel net) a three-layered net, designed so that a pocket forms when fish attempt to swim through, thus trapping them.
- 3 an instrument consisting of a board with two grooves intersecting at right angles, in which the two ends of a beam compass can slide to draw an ellipse.
- 4 US a hook in a fireplace for a kettle.
– origin ME: from OFr. tramail, from a med. L. var. of trimaculum, perh. from L. tri- ‘three’ + macula ‘mesh’.
'trammel' also found in these Oxford entries:
