▪ I. manacle, n.
(ˈmænək(ə)l)
Forms: 4 manykil, manykle, 4–5 manycle, 4–7 manicle, 5 manakelle, 6 manakle, mannicle, Sc. mannakill, 7 manucle, 4– manacle.
[ME. manicle, a. OF. manicle handcuff (also, as in mod.F., gauntlet, handguard), ad. L. manicula little hand (also, handle of a plough, in med.L. gauntlet), dim. of manus hand. The late forms have the ending assimilated to that of words like spectacle, oracle, miracle.]
1. A fetter for the hand; usually pl.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxlix. 8 For to bynde..þe nobils of þaim in manykils of yryn. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 176 While domus men were dempt þis dede to clare Marred in Manicles þat made wer newe. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. iii. 147 And, first of all, the mannakillis and hard bandis Chargit he lows of this ilk mannis handis. 1590 Webbe Trav. (Arb.) 20 Our handes fastned with a payre of manacles. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. ix. 57 Wee'le put you (Like one that meanes his proper harme) in Manacles, Then reason safely with you. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 362 Twenty thousand pair of manacles were found. 1838 Lytton Leila ii. vii, Four soldiers..bearing with them one whose manacles proclaimed him a prisoner. 1897 A. Balfour By Stroke of Sword xii. 43/2 The men..fastened my wrists together with manacles. |
¶ b. pl. in wider sense: Fetters, shackles.
| 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. i. xi. (1842) I. 459 Their limbs loaded with heavy manacles. |
c. fig. Chiefly pl., bonds, restraints.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xvii. 271 That [the body] which was given it [the soul] for an instrument, is become Manicles and Stocks. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iv. 93 The Manacles Of the all-building-Law. 1611 ― Cymb. i. i. 122 For my sake weare this [sc. a bracelet], It is a Manacle of Loue. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 27 No Poet durst have fetcht his Fancy so farr, as to call Prayer the Manicles of the Almighty, had not God himselfe..confessed it. 1670 Moral State Eng. 94 The Widow..is alwaies ready to hold out her hand for new manacles. 1677 Govt. Venice 3 They continued to elect a Prince, but with such manacles and restrictions, that they left him scarce any thing but the Title. 1852 M. Arnold Morality I [Nature] knew not yet the gauge of time, Nor wore the manacles of space. |
† 2. transf. A tether or shackle for a horse. Obs.
| 1556–68 Withals Dict. 38 b/2 The manakle for a horse nose, postomis. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 304 Bind with a manicle his [the horse's] fore-legge to the hinder-leg on the contrary side. Ibid. 321 There is a kind of Manicle for the pasternes of Horsses. |
▪ II. manacle, v.
(ˈmænək(ə)l)
Also 4 mankle, 5 manycle, 6 manakyll, mannacle, 6–7 manicle, 7 manakell, manackle, 8 Sc. mancle.
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To fetter or confine (the hands); to fetter with handcuffs.
| c 1306 Song Exec. Sir S. Fraser in Pol. Songs (Camden) 218 Y-fetered were ys legges under his horse wombe; Bothe with yrn ant with stel mankled were ys honde. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 594/39 Maniculo, to manycle. 1483 Cath. Angl. 227 To Manacle, manicare. 1530 Palsgr. 632/2, I manakyll a suspecte person to make hym to confesse thynges... And he will nat confesse it manakyll hym, for undouted he is gylty. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. Bb viij b, Anone thou manacleste oure handes. 1622 J. Taylor (Water P.) Thief Wks. (1630) ii. 124/2 Thieues are manacled when they are found. 1630 Wadsworth Pilgr. 41 Their masters manicling their hands before for feare they should make an insurrection. 1791 Cowper Iliad xxi. 38 Manacling their hands Behind them fast with their own tunic-strings. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. iii, Porteous..ordered him to be manacled. 1878 Masque Poets 27 Roman hands Can never manacle alive The daughter of the Ptolomies. |
b. loosely. To fetter; to fasten, secure.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 27 Thee gates of warfare wyl then bee mannacled hardly With steele bunch chayne knob. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 149 Wee'l bate thy Bears to death, And manacle the Berard in their Chaines. 1610 ― Temp. i. ii. 461 Ile manacle thy necke and feete together. |
2. fig. (Very common in the 17th c.)
| 1577 F. de L'isle's Legendarie Pref. A iv b, I..being surprised, and as it were manicled with an ineuitable let. 1610 Donne Pseudo-martyr 322 It seemes that the Pope..when he would fetter and manacle them [sc. Princes] in perplexities..is content to send his Breues. 1625 Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. vii. (1635) 106 What should hinder the Red Sea to ouerflow all Egypt—vnlesse it were manicled with the Creatours power? 1649 Lovelace Poems (1864) 99 Griefe too can manakell the minde. 1660 Milton Free Commw. Wks. 1851 V. 440 A number of new Injunctions to manacle the native Liberty of Mankind. 1721 Ramsay Scribblers Lashed 88 An ancle Or foot is seen, might monarchs mancle. 1858 Bright Sp., Reform 21 Dec. (1876) 307 Men who seem to be manacled by the triumph of 1832. |
Hence ˈmanacled ppl. a., ˈmanacling vbl. n.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 936/2 He remained so long manicled that his haire was folded togither. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 138 His manacled and benummed olde joynts. 1650 Vind. Hammond's Addr. 31 The infinite goodnesse of God..is a manicling, or restraining his Omnipotence. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 535 At the corner are figures of manacled Indians. 1861 Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 523 A packed Assembly, reported by a manacled press. |