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ball and chain

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
ball and chain 
1. a wife. (Mostly jocular.) I've got to get home to my ball and chain. My ball and chain is mad at me.
2. a person's special burden; a job. (Prisoners sometimes were fettered with a chain attached to a leg on one end and to a heavy metal ball on the other.) Tom wanted to quit his job. He said he was tired of that old ball and chain. Mr. Franklin always referred to his wife as his ball and chain.
See also: and, ball, chain


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If I could capture that spectrum the atomic neon sign of your lost wonder and feed it to you on a spoon when your lonely vigil against poverty and incompetence becomes ball and chain I'd give up my own food stand with my back to the solar wind close my eyes to beauty to keep you warm.
Therefore we provide no value-added and are simply a ball and chain slowing our organizations down.
I'd love to be able to take just one pill a day, because right now treatment is like a ball and chain that's always with me," Kusler says.
 
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