a kind of net for catching birds, fishes, or other prey.-a net for confining a woman's hair.-a kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making him amble.-fig.: whatever impedes activity, progress, or freedom, as a net or shackle.-an iron hook of various forms and sizes, used for handing kettles and other vessels over the fire.-an instrument for drawing ellipses, one part of which consists of a cross with two grooves at right angles to each other, the other being a beam carrying two pins (which slide in those grooves), and also the describing pencil.-a beam compass. see under beam.-to entangle, as in a net; to catch.-to confine; to hamper; to shackle.