the.com/straitjacket
A garment used to restrain someone, often associated with psychiatric care, now rarely used due to safety and ethical concerns.
means A long-sleeved restraining garment that binds the arms across the body, used to physically prevent someone from moving or hurting themselves or others.
from From 'strait,' meaning narrow or tight (as in a strait of water, or dire straits) — not the past tense of 'straight.' It fused with 'jacket' in the 1800s to name the restraining garment used in asylums and hospitals. The spelling 'straightjacket' is a common modern mix-up, but the original and still-correct form points to tightness and confinement, not straightness of line.
- name origin
- strait means narrow, not straight
- real use
- rare in modern psychiatric care today
- escape artists
- houdini made a career undoing it
- design flaw
- canvas restrains arms, not panic