strait-jacket noun & verb. ['streɪtdʒakɪt] E19.
[from STRAIT adjective¹ + JACKET noun.]
A. noun. A strong garment for the upper body, usu. having long sleeves, for confining the arms of a violent prisoner, mental patient, etc.; fig. a severe restriction. E19.
attrib.:
■ R. Godden I did write poems but always in some strait-jacket form: sonnets, rondels, triolets.
b. verb trans. Confine in a strait-jacket; fig. severely restrict. Usu. in pass. M19.
■ G. B. Shaw The dramatist is so strait-jacketed in theories of conduct.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲