Handcuffing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of securing someone's wrists together using metal restraints designed to limit movement
2. The process of fastening metal cuffs around a person's hands to prevent free motion
3. Binding a person's hands with linked metal rings to restrict their mobility

Etymology: Long before this term existed, Old English had "handcops," meaning shackles for the hands. That word dropped out of use for centuries, so the modern version is generally analyzed as a reinvention rather than a survival. It was built from "hand" and "cuff," where "cuff" originally meant the end of a shirtsleeve. The noun appears around 1591 in the writings of John Florio, and the verb around 1649. "Handcuffing" is the -ing form of that verb, so it shares the same history: two plain English words joined to name a new kind of restraint.

Synonyms: restraining, shackling, confining, binding, capturing

Antonyms: freeing, liberating, releasing, unbinding, disengaging