Fet″ter (fĕt″tẽr), n. [AS. fetor, feter; akin to OS. feterōs, pl., OD. veter, OHG. fezzera, Icel. fjöturr, L. pedica, Gr. πέδη, and to E. foot. √ 77. See Foot.] [Chiefly used in the plural, fetters.] 1. A chain or shackle for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or disabled from free and rapid motion; a bond; a shackle.
bound him with fetters of brass. Judg. xvi. 21.
2. Anything that confines or restrains; a restraint.
Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound. Dryden.