ball and chain

English

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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.
    Hypernyms: fetters, restraints
    Coordinate terms: shackles, manacles
    In those days a prisoner here had to carry his ball and chain when he was walking to the chow hall.
    • 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, derogatory) One's spouse, especially a wife, as a symbol of restraint.
    Near-synonyms: other half (neutral valence), better half (positive valence)
    I'll have to ask the old ball and chain and get back to you.
  3. (figurative) Anything that restricts one's freedom or opportunities.
    His boss turned his conscientiousness into a ball and chain by giving him all the hard jobs.
    • 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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