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fetter

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: feter and Fetter

English

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Fetters in use.

Etymology

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From Middle English feter, from Old English feter, Proto-West Germanic *fetur, from Proto-Germanic *feturaz (“fetter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”). Related to foot.

Cognates

Cognate with Dutch veter (“cable, chain, hawser; bond, fetter”), Faroese fjøtur (“fetter”), Icelandic fjötur (“fetter”), Swedish fjätter (“fetter, shackle”); also Irish feadh (“extent, length”), feá (“fathom”), Scottish Gaelic feadh (“extent, length; fathom”), Latgalian pāda (“foot”), Latvian pēda (“foot”), Lithuanian pėda (“foot”), Belarusian па́даць (pádacʹ, “to fall”), Bulgarian па́дам (pádam, “to grop, fall”), Czech padat (“to fall”), Polish padać (“to fall”), Russian па́дать (pádatʹ, “to fall”), Serbo-Croatian padati, падати (“to fall”), Slovene padati (“to fall”), Ukrainian па́дати (pádaty, “to fall”), Latin peior, pejor (“worse”), Ancient Greek πέδη (pédē, “fetter, shackle; anklet, bangle”), Armenian ետ (et, “back, backward”), հետ (het, “back; with”), Ossetian фестӕг (festæg), фистӕг (fistæg, “pedestrian”), Old Persian 𐎱𐎿𐎫𐎡 (p-s-t-i, “foot soldier, infantryman”), Sanskrit पद्यते (padyate, “to fall, topple; to perish”), Hittite 𒁉𒂊𒁕𒀭 (“place; floor, ground”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fetter (plural fetters)

  1. (usually plural) A chain or similar object used to bind a person or animal, often by its legs.
    Synonym: leg irons
  2. (figurative) Anything that restricts or restrains.
    • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe‎[1], Prologue:
      Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound.
    • 1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 6, in Frankenstein‎[2], archived from the original on 8 May 2013:
      He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.
    • 1910, Erwin Rosen, “Prolog”, in In the Foreign Legion‎[3], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2012:
      That was the turning-point of my life. I broke my fetters, and I fought a hard fight for a new career …

Hyponyms

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(chain binding generally):

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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fetter (third-person singular simple present fetters, present participle fettering, simple past and past participle fettered)

  1. (transitive) To shackle or bind up with fetters.
    • 1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, →OCLC, page 474:
      The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!
  2. (transitive) To restrain or impede; to hamper.

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

German

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fetter

  1. comparative degree of fett
  2. inflection of fett:
    1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
    2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
    3. strong genitive plural

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From Middle Low German vedder.

Noun

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fetter m (definite singular fetteren, indefinite plural fettere, definite plural fetterne)

  1. a cousin (male)

Coordinate terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Middle Low German vedder.

Noun

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fetter m (definite singular fetteren, indefinite plural fetrar, definite plural fetrane)

  1. a male cousin

Coordinate terms

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  • kusine f (“female cousin”)

References

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Swedish

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Noun

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fetter

  1. indefinite plural of fett

Vilamovian

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Pronunciation

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  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: fet‧ter

Noun

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fetter m (plural fettyn)

  1. paternal uncle (brother of someone’s father)
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