Meaning & use
Coffles
Last updated
Lines of people or animals chained or tied together in a row, historically used to describe enslaved people or prisoners forced to march together.
See it in a sentence
Historical accounts describe coffles of enslaved people being marched hundreds of miles to market.
Traders once moved mules in coffles along the mountain trails.
A note on using this word
The word comes from Arabic 'qafila' (caravan) via North African trade routes, and is now used mainly in historical writing about slavery.
Words with a similar meaning
chain gangs
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