What does ball and chain phrase mean?
What does ball and chain phrase mean?
: something that limits one’s freedom or ability to do things Drugs are a ball and chain for many people. (old-fashioned) He referred to his wife as “the ball and chain.”
What is the ball and chain a metaphor for?
A burden and restraint, as in Karen regarded her job as a ball and chain, but she needed the money. The term, dating from the early 1800s, alludes to chaining a heavy iron ball to a prisoner’s leg. Later it was transferred to other kinds of restraining burden.
What does ball and chain mean Cockney?
A jocular but disparaging term for a person’s spouse or significant other who is thought to stifle the person in some way. Typically said of a wife or girlfriend.
What’s another term for ball and chain?
What is another word for ball and chain?
| handicap | obstacle |
|---|---|
| chains | yoke |
| stumbling stone | tribulation |
| leash | pinch |
| circumvention | defensive measures |
Is Ball and Chain an insult?
usage note for ball and chain In the meaning “romantic partner,” this term is consciously used for humorous or playful effect. But it is often perceived as insulting, implying that the partner is a burden or restriction on the other partner.
What does chain mean in slang?
“Chain” is slang for a gold or silver chain necklace. A chain is a status symbol, particularly in rap and hip hop.
Is ball and chain an insult?
How do you use chain and ball in a sentence?
1. The responsibility was a ball and chain around my ankle. 2. At which point she unlocked her ball and chain.
What does more chain than ball mean?
If someone said they’re being more ball than chain it means they’re giving less freedom.
What is slang for wife?
In this page you can discover 47 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for wife, like: wifey, better half, the missis, spouse, married woman, consort, ball-and-chain, spinster, partner, uxor and lady.
What is a Trammell?
1 : something impeding activity, progress, or freedom : restraint —usually used in plural. 2 : a net for catching birds or fish especially : one having three layers with the middle one finer-meshed and slack so that fish passing through carry some of the center net through the coarser opposite net and are trapped.
What does keeping the ball and chain Happy mean?
What is the definition of a ball and chain?
ball and chain. Definition of ball and chain. : something that limits one’s freedom or ability to do things Drugs are a ball and chain for many people.
What does it mean when someone calls your wife a ball and chain?
A jocular but disparaging term for a person’s spouse or significant other who is thought to stifle the person in some way. Almost always applied to a wife or girlfriend. We could tell Jimmy was joking when he called his wife the old ball and chain, but I think he does feel a bit like he doesn’t get out enough.
Why did Tom Franklin call his wife his ball and chain?
(Prisoners sometimes were fettered with a chain attached to a leg on one end and to a heavy metal ball on the other.) Tom wanted to quit his job. He said he was tired of that old ball and chain. Mr. Franklin always referred to his wife as his ball and chain.