These words refer to being tied or bound up so that one cannot move freely. Shackle refers literally to the binding of ankles or wrists or both; the bands or straps used can be attached to another person or group so shackled or to a post or stationary object: shackled hand and foot to the prison wall. Figuratively, shackle suggests something that frustrates progress along a certain line: youthful minds already shackled by the prejudices of their parents; a government shackled by an inflexible foreign policy.

Manacle and fetter both deal with a separate and specific aspect of shackle . Manacle refers specifically to the binding of hands or wrists, fetter to the binding of feet. As with shackle , the binding may be by a band or strap; both hands or feet may be manacled or fettered together, or one of each may be attached to one of another person’s: raising his manacled hands in protest: one hand manacled to the policeman who accompanied him; fettered so that he could walk only with difficulty about his cell; convicts fettered to each other by a heavy chain. In figurative uses, these distinctions are frequently forgotten and both words are used interchangeably with shackled ; on this level, fetter suggests less loss of freedom than shackle , and manacle an even greater loss: a slow-moving programme that was fettered by parliamentary caution; an apathetic populace manacled by gross need and squalor. In using any of these three words figuratively, one should remember that the literal image remains strong; ridiculous comparisons should be avoid.

• The hand that rocked the cradle was fettered to the home; The current generation is shackled to its lust for speed and rapid changes of pace.

Handcuff and tether are still more specifically restricted than the foregoing words. Handcuff refers exclusively to two circles of metal connected by a short chain; as with manacle , both wrists of a person may be handcuffed together or one wrist may be handcuffed to another person’s or to a fixed object. The word is far less often used figuratively than manacle . Tether suggests, most specifically, an animal tied to a fixed stake by a cord or chain that is attached to the animal at the neck. This gives a limited circle in which the animal may move or graze. Figuratively, the word implies the setting of a limited area within which freedom is permitted but beyond which it is impossible to go: tethered within a four-year programme of required courses; a group tethered to tedious pieties that no longer have any meaning.

Chain , while specifying the material with which the binding is done, is the most general word here in that it can refer to any manner of binding whatever. Unlike these other words, it can also suggest a more complete loss of freedom: chained so that he could neither stand, sit nor lie down at full length. Figuratively, it suggests an impediment to free movement that would be difficult to overcome: chained to pre-Keynesian notions of economics. It is safer word to use figuratively than shackle , manacle or fetter , in that it less often results in a mixed metaphor.