The AI-powered English dictionary
plural handcuffs
One ring of a locking fetter for the hand or one pair. examples
third-person singular simple present handcuffs, present participle handcuffing, simple past and past participle handcuffed
To apply handcuffs to quotations examples
The sheriff had brought along all the handcuffs necessary, and in a few seconds he had handcuffed Koswell. He threw a pair of the steel bracelets to Dick and another pair to Tom, and the Rovers had the satisfaction of handcuffing Josiah Crabtree and Tad Sobber. Then the sheriff made prisoners of the rest of the crowd […]
1912, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in the Air
(figuratively) to restrain or restrict. quotations examples
If he were a king, as his swagger and opera-singing occasionally suggested, he would stretch the constitution any way he wanted. In fact, as he admitted with a grin, it handcuffed him.
2016 February 20, “Obituary: Antonin Scalia: Always right”, in The Economist
After all, since our marriage has proved a childless one, the only reason for our submitting to be handcuffed to one another, now that our hearts are no longer in the arrangement, is gone.
1880, George Bernard Shaw, chapter XVII, in The Irrational Knot