What does it mean ‘the icy shackles of winter’?

“He thought he might die to the sound of rain, not in the icy shackles of winter or the bright warmth of a summer’s day.”

Thanks!

Question

What does it mean ‘the icy shackles of winter’?

“He thought he might die to the sound of rain, not in the icy shackles of winter or the bright warmth of a summer’s day.”

Thanks!

Answer

I believe, it's a metaphor here, because a shackle in its literal meaning is a pair of fetters connected together by a chain, used to fasten a prisoner's wrists or ankles together (from Oxford Dictionary). So the narrator means he didn't expect to die in severe winter, to be struck with cold and die etc.

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