A metal fastener or chain, usually used to restrain someone or something; a constraint or limitation.
From Old English 'sceacul,' which referred to a leg chain or fetter. The word may be related to Germanic languages and has been used since medieval times. Over time, it developed the figurative meaning of anything that restrains or limits freedom.
Shackles appear throughout human history as symbols of oppression, which is why the word has become powerful in literature and protest language—removing one's 'shackles' means achieving freedom! This is why civil rights leaders and abolitionists used shackle imagery so powerfully in their work.
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