Sekirov Dictionary

straitjacket

/ˈstɹeɪtˌd͡ʒækɪt/

noun 2
verb 2
forms 5

noun2

•
A jacketlike garment with very long sleeves which can be secured in place, thus preventing the wearer from moving their arms; often used in psychiatric hospitals to prevent patients from injuring themselves or others.
- There’s a couple of people actually wearing duct-tape straitjackets. — 1992
•
(figurative) Any situation seen as confining or restricting.
- [I]f we remain in one discipline, we remain in a straitjacket; an adequate theory of language evolution requires a lot of interdisciplinary work. — 2009

verb2

To put someone into a straitjacket.
•
(figurative) To restrict the freedom of someone or something, either physically or psychologically.
- Charles for five whole days in a Victorian topper and tailcoat when he practically had to be straitjacketted to get him into tails for a three-hour wedding? — 1977

forms

straitjacketed · straitjacketted · straitjacketing · straitjacketting · straitjackets

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