coffle

coffle (KAW-fuhl, KOF-uhl) - n., a group of animals, prisoners, or slaves chained together in a line. v., to fasten together in a coffle.


Borrowed in this sense in the late 18th century from Arabic qāfila, caravan, feminine active participle of qafala, to close/return. (It had been borrowed before, and used for a little while, in the 16th century in the caravan sense.)


Thanks, WikiMedia!

---L.