v. t. [ Ham + shackle. ] To fasten (an animal) by a rope binding the head to one of the fore legs; as, to hamshackle a horse or cow; hence, to bind or restrain; to curb. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Etymol. uncertain. ] Loose; disjointed; falling to pieces; out of repair. [ 1913 Webster ]

There came . . . my lord the cardinal, in his ramshackle coach. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To search or ransack; to rummage. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Prov. E., to shake, to shed. See Shake. ] 1. To shed or fall, as corn or grain at harvest. [ Prov. Eng. ] Grose. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To feed in stubble, or upon waste corn. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To wander as a vagabond or a tramp. [ Prev.Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Shack, v. i. ] a small simple dwelling, usually having only one room and of flimsy construction; a hut; a shanty; a cabin. [ Colloq. ]

n. [ Cf. Scot. shag refuse of barley or oats. ] 1. The grain left after harvest or gleaning; also, nuts which have fallen to the ground. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Liberty of winter pasturage. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A shiftless fellow; a low, itinerant beggar; a vagabond; a tramp. [ Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U.S. ] Forby. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the poor old shacks about the town found a friend in Deacon Marble. H. W. Beecher. [ 1913 Webster ]

These miserable shacks are so low that their occupants cannot stand erect. D. C. Worcester. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Common of shack (Eng.Law), the right of persons occupying lands lying together in the same common field to turn out their cattle to range in it after harvest. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hound. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Stubble. [ Prov. Eng. ] Pegge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Generally used in the plural. ] [ OE. schakkyll, schakle, AS. scacul, sceacul, a shackle, fr. scacan to shake; cf. D. schakel a link of a chain, a mesh, Icel. skökull the pole of a cart. See Shake. ] 1. Something which confines the legs or arms so as to prevent their free motion; specifically, a ring or band inclosing the ankle or wrist, and fastened to a similar shackle on the other leg or arm, or to something else, by a chain or a strap; a gyve; a fetter. [ 1913 Webster ]

His shackles empty left; himself escaped clean. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, that which checks or prevents free action. [ 1913 Webster ]

His very will seems to be in bonds and shackles. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A fetterlike band worn as an ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

Most of the men and women . . . had all earrings made of gold, and gold shackles about their legs and arms. Dampier. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A link or loop, as in a chain, fitted with a movable bolt, so that the parts can be separated, or the loop removed; a clevis. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A link for connecting railroad cars; -- called also drawlink, draglink, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The hinged and curved bar of a padlock, by which it is hung to the staple. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shackle joint (Anat.), a joint formed by a bony ring passing through a hole in a bone, as at the bases of spines in some fishes. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Shackled p. pr. & vb. n. Shackling. ] 1. To tie or confine the limbs of, so as to prevent free motion; to bind with shackles; to fetter; to chain. [ 1913 Webster ]

To lead him shackled, and exposed to scorn
Of gathering crowds, the Britons' boasted chief. J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Figuratively: To bind or confine so as to prevent or embarrass action; to impede; to cumber. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shackled by her devotion to the king, she seldom could pursue that object. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To join by a link or chain, as railroad cars. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Shackle bar, the coupling between a locomotive and its tender. [ U.S. ] --
Shackle bolt, a shackle. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sort of shackle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Shaky; rickety. [ Colloq. U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. to live together in a sexual relationship, without being legally married. [ Slang, U. S. ] [ PJC ]

2. to live in a cabin, shack, or other crude dwelling. [ Slang, U. S. ] [ PJC ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + shackle. ] To loose from shackles or bonds; to set free from restraint; to unfetter. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]