Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TRAM'MEL, n. [Fr. tramail, a drag-net; tra and mail. In Sp. traba is a fetter, Fr. entraves. This seems to be a different word.]

1. A kind of long net for catching birds or fishes. The trammel differs not much from the shape of the bunt. Carew.
2. A kind of shackles used for regulating the motions of a horse, and making him amble.
3. An iron hook, of various forms and sizes, used for hanging kettles and other vessels over the fire.
4. Trammels, in mechanics, a joiner's instrument for drawing ovals upon boards. One part consists of a cross with two grooves at right angles; the other is a beam carrying two pins which slide in those grooves, and also the describing pencil. Cyc.