Tramme

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. An obstruction or impediment that restricts freedom; a hindrance that confines movement or action; a device or condition that limits or restrains progress
2. A constraint or barrier that prevents free activity or passage; something that confines or blocks lawful or natural liberty; a factor causing restriction or limitation
3. An interference or limitation that holds back freedom; an obstacle that restrains action or liberty; a hindrance imposed by laws, rules, or circumstances

Etymology: "Tramme" is an older spelling of "trammel," and the word began as a fishing net. Its ancestor was the Old French "tramail," a net made of three layers, which in turn came from Late Latin "tremaculum." The Latin source probably combines "tres," meaning three, with a word for mesh, though the exact breakdown is uncertain. The sense of holding something back grows naturally from a net's job of catching and tangling. Trammels were also tethers that hobbled horses, so the idea of something binding movement was already attached to the word. Its figurative use, an obstacle that restricts freedom, follows the same logic: a thing that snares and keeps a creature from going where it wants.

Synonyms: shackle, restrain, confine, hobble, impede

Antonyms: free, liberate, release, unshackle, unfetter