handcuffs

1775, from hand +‎ cuff (“end of shirtsleeve”).^[1]

Possibly influenced by Old English handcops, from hand + cops (“fetter, chains”), but due to lack of continuity (centuries between Old English and modern term), generally analyzed as a re-invention.^[1]

handcuffs pl (plural only)

2. A fastening consisting of two metal rings, designed to go around a person's wrists, and connected by a chain or hinge.

   Coordinate terms: shackles, straitjacket

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter V, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 61:

     It was the sergeant who had spoken to me, and he was now looking round at the company, with his handcuffs invitingly extended towards them in his right hand, and his left on my shoulder.

   • 2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:

     Security is tight inside and outside the building, guarded by a bewildering collection of soldiers, policemen and gendarmes. Relatives watch as prisoners in handcuffs and leg irons shuffle past.

3. (figurative) Any abstract constraint, such as rules, regulations, or lack of resources.

   Coordinate terms: shackles, straitjacket

   They complained that their rules of engagement were handcuffs that guaranteed counterproductivity.

• manacles
• shackles

• handcuff

handcuffs

1. plural of handcuff

handcuffs

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of handcuff