fetter (feter)

[ foot. Prob. not related to AS. fetel, a fetter, chain, belt, girdle, = OHG. fezzil, MHG. vezzel, G. fe el, a belt, sword-belt (G. fe el having now taken the place of fe er, in sense of fetter ), = Norw. futul, a fetter, = Icel. fetill, a belt, strap. See fettle.] 1. A chain or bar by which a person or an animal is confined by the foot, so that he is either made fast to an object or deprived of free motion by having one foot attached to the other; a shackle. 2192 They toke his feters of inc on ten ent ffrom his leggis; and whan they had so do, Thanne was he glad inow, and furth he went. Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1807. Who would wear fetters , though they were all of gold? Dekker and Webster , Sir Thomas Wyat. feu motion; a restraint; a check. Here the free spirit of mankind, at length, Throws its last fetters off. Bryant, The Ages, xxxiii. Does he blame the capitals, which certainly do not follow the exact pattern of any Vitruvian order? Let us answer boldly, Why should art be put in fetters ? E. A. Freeman , Venice, p. 246. Human speech shook off the cla ic fetters ... by which it was long cramped, and. luxuriated in its new-found liberty. Edinburgh Rev., CLXIII. 123. =Syn. 1. Gyve, Manacle , etc. See shackle , n. fetter (fet'er), v. t. [ feteren , ge feterian = OHG. gifezzarōn = Icel. fjötra = Sw. fjettra , fetter, = Norw. fjetra , fix, hold fast, hold spellbound; from the noun. Cf. G. fe eln = Norw. futla , fetter: see fetter , n.] To put fetters upon; shackle or confine, as with fetters; hence, to bind; confine; restrain. The kyng then comaund to cacche hir belyue, And fetur hir fast in a fre prisoune A stithe house of stone - to still hir of noise. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3518. You know I never fettered nor imprisoned the word re- ligion. Donne , Letters, xxx. My heels are fetter'd , but my fist is free. Milton , S. A., 1. 1235. If he call rogue and rascal from a garret, He means you no more mischief than a parrot: The words for friend and foe alike were made, To fetter them in verse is all his trade. Dryden, Abs. and Achit., ii. 428. And is a pre that is purchased or pensioned more free than a pre that is fettered ? D. Webster, Speech, Oct. 12, 1832. In reading Thomas A quinas. one is constantly pro voked to say, What could not such a mind have done if it had not been fettered by such a method? Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 90. [