• (RP) IPA: /ˈmænək(ə)l/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈmænəkəl/

manacle (plural manacles)

1. A shackle#Noun|shackle for the wrist, usually consisting of a pair#Noun|pair of join#Verb|joined ring#Noun|rings; a handcuff#Noun|handcuff; (by extension) a similar device put around an ankle to restrict free movement.
   • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ix], page 7 ↗, column 2:

     If 'gainſt your ſelfe you be incens'd, wee'le put you / (Like one that meanes his proper harme) in Manacles, / Then reaſon ſafely with you: [...]

     If you are angry with yourself, we'll put you / (Like one that means to commit suicide) in manacles, / then reason safely with you: [...]

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene i], page 370 ↗, column 1:

     For my ſake weare this [a bracelet], / It is a Manacle of Loue, Ile place it / Vpon this fayreſt Priſoner.

   • 1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., OCLC 17392886 ↗; republished as “A Duel to the Death”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1917, OCLC 419578288 ↗, page 143 ↗:

     Examining the manacles I saw that they fastened with a massive spring lock.

2. (figuratively) A fetter#Noun|fetter, a restriction.
   • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “Measvre for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene iv], page 69 ↗, column 2:

     Admit no other way to ſaue his life / [...] that you, his Siſter, / Finding your ſelfe deſir'd of such a perſon, / Whoſe creadit with the Iudge, or owne great place, / Could fetch your Brother from the Manacles / Of the all-building-Law: and that there were / No earthly meane to ſaue him, but that either / You muſt lay downe the treaſures of your body, / To this ſuppoſed, or elſe to let him ſuffer: / What would you doe?

• German: Handschellen
• Italian: manette
• Portuguese: algema
• Russian: нару́чники
• Spanish: esposas, manillas

manacle (manacles, present participle manacling; past and past participle manacled)

1. (ambitransitive) To confine with manacles.
   • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii], page 6 ↗, column 1:

     [C]ome, / Ile manacle thy necke and feete together: / Sea water ſhalt thou drinke: thy food ſhall be / The freſh-brooke Muſſels, wither'd roots, and huskes / Wherein the Acorne cradled.

   • 1860 December – 1861 August​, Charles Dickens, chapter XV, in Great Expectations [...] In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, OCLC 3359935 ↗, page 259 ↗:

     As it came nearer, I saw it to be Magwitch, swimming, but not swimming freely. He was taken on board, and instantly manacled at the wrists and ankles.

   • 1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., OCLC 17392886 ↗; republished as “A Duel to the Death”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1917, OCLC 419578288 ↗, pages 143–144 ↗:

     You have shown yourself a mighty fighter, and we do not wish to manacle you, so we hold you both in the easiest way that will yet ensure security.

• Russian: заковывать
• Spanish: esposar