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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
straitjacket
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Cameron knew how good his son really was, and encouraged him to break free of the pop straitjacket.
▪ Designed for a government of clerks, civil service became a straitjacket in an era of knowledge workers.
▪ However, as no votes have been recorded at these junctures the arithmetic straitjacket has remained largely hidden.
▪ I spent that night in a straitjacket of fear.
▪ People realize that we lived in a straitjacket for along time.
▪ The smiling realists are relieved that good old-fashioned national interest may burst out of the straitjacket of Brussels directives.
Wiktionary
straitjacket

n. 1 A jacket-like garment with very long sleeves which can be secured in place, thus preventing the wearer from moving his or her arms. Often used in psychiatric hospitals to prevent patients from injuring themselves or others. 2 A metaphor used to describe a range of situations seen as (unpleasantly?) confining or restricting. vb. 1 (context literally English) To put someone into a straitjacket#Noun. 2 (context by extension English) To restrict the freedom of, either physically or psychologically.

WordNet
straitjacket
  1. n. anything immaterial that severely hinders or confines; "they defected because Russian dance was in a straitjacket"; "the government is operating in an economic straitjacket"

  2. a jacket-like garment used to bind the arms tightly against the body as a means of restraining a violent person [syn: straightjacket]

Wikipedia
Straitjacket

A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to him/herself or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest. The ends of the sleeves are then tied to the back of the wearer, ensuring that the arms are kept close to the chest with as little movement as possible.

Although straitjacket is the most common spelling, strait-jacket is also frequently used, and in Scotland strait-waistcoat, which is generally deemed archaic. Straitjackets are also known as camisoles.

The straitjacket's effectiveness as a restraint makes it of special interest in escapology. The straitjacket is also a staple prop in stage magic and is sometimes used in bondage.

The negative connotations of the straitjacket as an instrument of torture come from the earlier Victorian era of medicine. Physical restraint was then extensively used both as treatment for mental illness and as a means of pacifying patients in understaffed asylums.

Due to the strength of the material, canvas or duck cloth is often used for making institutional straitjackets. However, leather or PVC is most often used for recreational or fashion wear.

The term is used metaphorically, as in the phrase "intellectual straitjacket" to criticize very tight boundaries on what ideas are allowed, as imposed by an ideological system of thought.

Straitjacket (comedy duo)

Straitjacket were a comedy duo from North East England, who wrote original comedy sketches. A lot of their material was transferred to the screen by the original three members: Tom Bennett, Keith Dickinson and Ian Todd. Keith left the group in July 2007, leaving Tom and Ian to continue as a duo until October 8 when they split to pursue solo ventures.

The original three were reunited after a long period apart and decided to do their own brand of comedy with a blend of darkness, randomness and the surreal. This original blend of comedy helped establish them as regular contributors to BBC Radio 1 show The Milk Run.

They contributed to a sketch show on E4 called 'Dog Face' and produced sketch shows for the screen which were regularly seen in the Newcastle area and at comedy festivals across the United Kingdom. North East music talent also contributed their material to Straitjacket, establishing a unique soundtrack for the sketch shows.

Straitjacket attracted praise from press both locally and nationally. In 2006 the group was discovered by Naomi Odenkirk who introduced them to her husband Bob Odenkirk who championed their comedy in America, entering their work into festivals and screenings.

Straitjacket had their work screened at the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in 2007 introduced by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross and in September 2007 they won Channel4’s 4Talent Award designed to find the “UK's most exciting young creative talent.”

In 2008, Straitjacket finished developing a TV pilot with Bob Odenkirk, titled ‘Straitjacket: Reel Life.’

Tom Bennett is currently developing sitcoms and recording voiceovers.

Straitjacket (disambiguation)

A straitjacket is a garment used for restraint.

Straitjacket may also refer to:

  • Straitjacket (comedy duo), a comedy team from England
  • Strait Jacket, a novel series by Ichirō Sakaki

Usage examples of "straitjacket".

These two worlds are differently conceptualised and differently evaluated, and though we live simultaneously in both we can no more force our experience into a repressive existential straitjacket which recognizes only one form of perception than we can separate ourselves into two distinct individuals.

She stumbled so much in her insistence in taking part in everything that she felt herself upset by gusts of bad humor and she tried to get rid of the shadows that were beginning to wrap her in a straitjacket of cobwebs.

Lecter in the straitjacket and leg restraints as he stood with his back to the bars, Chilton poised with the Mace, before they opened the door to carry in his tray.

They should immediately be put in the hospital, put on fluroxene, put in a straitjacket, given therapy, and let back on the street when they become normal again.

Would the psychiatrist chase after her or worse still send somebody else after her with a straitjacket, some tranquillises and a free ticket to the local funny farm?

Thinking of what she had done made him want to scream, and it made the world - which he badly needed to stay in touch with, if he didn't want to end up behind bars, probably laced into a straitjacket and stuffed full of Thorazine - begin to fuzz out.

Renny lay on the bed, incased in a straitjacket, his huge fists jerking inside the stout canvas as his disarranged mind still sought to fight something in the air over his head.

The Lycée itself seemed to rise up out of a lake of thin snow, an inverted mountain that pointed down toward the center of the earth where God or the Devil works always in a straitjacket grinding grist for that paradise which is always a wet dream.

Crazy Megan also mentions what just plain Megan would never in a million years tell him-about the fake computerized picture of Megan in a straitjacket that made the rounds of Jefferson High two weeks ago.

And at last, I think a more basic truth must have overwhelmed the rest of his calculations: the tape was off his mouth, but he was still wearing the straitjacket and probably he had to piss like a racehorse.

The social contract not only castrated man, but forced him into a straitjacket.

He gulped two of the pills down, and sat rock-still while they straitjacketed his writhing mind.

There were all kinds of clothes in the Queendom, including spray-on, wrap-on, and clothes that looked like a ball of putty until you stepped on them or smacked them with your fist, at which point they came alive and sort of straitjacketed themselves around you, taking on some stylish cut and color.

A miracle based probably on some individual chance peculiarity of strength that the other eight men in straitjackets lacked.

I'm not going to have any crew back in straitjackets again, just because you were too sleepy to warn me they'd revert!