tether
pronunciation
How to pronounce tether in British English:
UK [ˈteðə(r)]
How to pronounce tether in American English:
US [ˈtɛðɚ]
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- Noun:
- restraint consisting of a rope (or light chain) used to restrain an animal
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- Verb:
- tie with a tether
Word Origin
- tether (n.)
- late 14c., "rope for fastening an animal," not found in Old English, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse tjoðr "tether," from Proto-Germanic *teudran (cognates: Danish tøir, Old Swedish tiuther, Swedish tjuder, Old Frisian tiader, Middle Dutch tuder, Dutch tuier "line, rope," Old High German zeotar "pole of a cart"), from PIE root *deu- "to fasten" + instrumentive suffix *-tro-. Figurative sense of "measure of one's limitations" is attested from 1570s.
- tether (v.)
- late 14c. (implied in tethering), "confine by a tether," originally of grazing animals, from tether (n.). Figurative use also from late 14c. Related: Tethered.
Example
- 1. The cow had broken her tether and was in the cornfield .
- 2. Not confined or restricted with a tether .
- 3. To tether an animal or restrict its movement .
- 4. She is at the end of her tether .
- 5. I wonder if miles hasn 't pulled loose from his own tether .