handcuff
Plural: handcuffs
Noun
- shackle that consists of a metal loop that can be locked around the wrist; usually used in pairs
- One ring of a locking fetter for the hand or one pair.
Verb
Verb Forms: handcuffed, handcuffing, handcuffs
- To restrain someone by locking their wrists together.
- confine or restrain with or as if with manacles or handcuffs
- "The police handcuffed the suspect at the scene of the crime"
- To apply handcuffs to someone.
- to restrain or restrict.
Examples
- Dang, I’m handcuffed by these regulations. I’d like to help but it’d be illegal.
- The tricky Q without a U can often HANDCUFF a player’s options.
Origin / Etymology
From hand + cuff (“end of shirtsleeve”). Possibly an adaptation of Middle English handcops (“shackles for the hand, handcuffs”), from Old English handcops, from hand + cops, cosp (“fetter, chains”), but due to a lack of continuity (centuries between Old English and the modern term), generally analyzed as a re-invention. Nominal form first appears c. 1591 in the publications of John Florio. Verbal form first appears c. 1649.
Scrabble Score: 20
handcuff: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordhandcuff: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
handcuff: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary