Definition of "shackle"

His very will seems to be in bonds and shackles.

1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727

He had to eat with a knife and fork; he had to use napkin, cup, and plate; he had to learn his book, he had to go to church; he had to talk so properly that speech was become insipid in his mouth; whithersoever he turned, the bars and shackles of civilization shut him in and bound him hand and foot.

1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXV, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, pages 269–270

Cast off the shackles of yesterday! / Shoulder to shoulder into the fray!

1964, “Sister Suffragette”, performed by Glynis Johns

Most of the men and women […] had all earrings made of gold, and gold shackles about their legs and arms.

1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World

Some say the plague was brought by HattieThere was talk of a hangin' too.But the talk got shackled by the howls and the cacklesFrom the bowels of the Black bayou.

1973, “Swamp Witch”, in Jim Stafford (lyrics), Jim Stafford, performed by Jim Stafford

Rooney, superbly shackled by City defender Vincent Kompany for so long as Ferguson surprisingly left Dimitar Berbatov on the bench, had previously cut a forlorn and frustrated figure but his natural instincts continue to serve him and United so well.

2011 February 12, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 2 - 1 Man City”, in BBC‎