This noun denotes fetters or shackles, restraints bound to the feet or legs. Mark describes the Gerasene demoniac who had often been bound with 'shackles' and chains, which he broke apart (Mark 5:4, twice), and Luke adds that he was kept under guard, bound with chains and 'shackles' (Luke 8:29). The word originally referred to any restraint for the feet—whether for prisoners or even ornamental anklets—but in these Gospel accounts, it vividly depicts instruments of confinement broken by supernatural strength.