bilboes

English

Etymology

Unknown. Purported to have been invented in Bilbao, Spain, yet the device's name predates the Spanish Armada that supposedly imported it.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪlbəʊz/

Noun

bilboes pl (plural only)

1. An iron bar fitting around the ankles of prisoners, and having sliding shackles.
   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, line 2505 (Folio 1, 1623):

     [...] me thought I lay
     Worse then the mutines in the Bilboes, rashly,

   • 2001, Glen David Gold, Carter Beats The Devil:

     The bilboes looked like handcuffs that went around the ankles. The prisoner lay flat on his back, in the dirt, his feet suspended in the air by a length of iron bar to which the bilboes were fastened.

Anagrams

• bilobes, lobbies