ball and chain

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

ball and chain (plural balls and chains)

  1. A heavy iron ball attached to a prisoner's leg by a chain as a means of restraint.
    • 1964, “The House of the Rising Sun”, performed by The Animals:
      Well, I got one foot on the platform / The other foot on the train / I'm goin' back to New Orleans / To wear that ball and chain
    • 1990, Mike Ness, “Ball and Chain”, performed by Social Distortion:
      Take away this ball and chain
  2. (slang) One's wife, as a symbol of restraint.
  3. (figurative) Anything that restricts one's freedom or opportunities.
    • 2011, John Bradley, Cadbury's Purple Reign: The Story Behind Chocolate's Best-Loved Brand:
      Their business model of the 1920s and 1930s, which had catapulted the business to undreamt-of heights, had then turned into something of a ball and chain.
    • 2025 May 30, Matteo Wong, “OpenAI Can Stop Pretending”, in The Atlantic‎[1]:
      Now 2015 feels like a very long time ago, and the charitable origins have turned into a ball and chain for OpenAI.

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