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ball-and-chain

ball-and-chain
B b

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [bawl and cheyn]
    • /bɔl ænd tʃeɪn/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [bawl and cheyn]
    • /bɔl ænd tʃeɪn/

Definitions of ball-and-chain word

  • noun ball-and-chain a heavy iron ball fastened by a chain to a prisoner's leg. 1
  • noun ball-and-chain a burdensome restraint: The steady accumulation of small debts was a ball and chain to his progress. 1
  • noun ball-and-chain Facetious Slang: Often Offensive. a person's spouse or romantic partner, especially a female. 1
See all 3 definitions of ball-and-chain

Information block about the term

Origin of ball-and-chain

First appearance:

before 1825
One of the 37% newest English words
An Americanism dating back to 1825-35

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Ball-and-chain

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Ball-and-chain

ball-and-chain popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 6% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.
According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

See also

Matching words

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