Handcuffs are the linked metal rings police lock around a prisoner's wrists. Put on the handcuffs, in handcuffs, slip the handcuffs.
They ratchet closed and must be double-locked, or they tighten as the wearer moves and injure the wrists — which is why failing to double-lock is a recognised fault. The word is always plural and takes a pair. Note that it is hand plus cuff and dates from 1775.
1nounhandcuffsLinked metal rings locked around a prisoner's wrists.
“The officer put the handcuffs on the thief and led him to the car.”
handcuffs is a restraint.
Also accepted in games: cuffs
Hand plus cuff, from 1775. An Old English handcops meant the same thing but did not survive into the modern word.
Old English
handcops
English, today
handcuffs
Built from
1775, from hand + cuff. Possibly influenced by Old English handcops, from hand + cops (“fetter, chains”), but due to lack of continuity (centuries between Old English and modern term), generally analyzed as a re-invention.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA