hamper

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhæmpɚ/

From Middle English hamper, contracted from hanaper, hanypere, from Anglo-Norman hanaper, Old French hanapier, hanepier (“case for holding a large goblet or cup”), from hanap (“goblet, drinking cup”), from Old Frankish *hnapp (“cup, bowl, basin”), from Proto-Germanic *hnappaz (“cup, bowl”). Cognate with Old High German hnapf (“cup, bowl, basin”) (German Napf (“bowl”)), Dutch nap (“cup”), Old English hnæpp (“bowl”). More at nap.

• hampire (obsolete)

hamper (plural hampers)

1. A large basket, usually with a cover, used for the packing and carrying of articles or small animals

   a hamper of wine

   a clothes hamper

   an oyster hamper, which contains two bushels

2. (uncommon except in New England) A wicker or plastic basket specifically for holding laundry (from clothes hamper), as opposed to a covered wicker basket which is a true hamper

hamper (third-person singular simple present hampers, present participle hampering, simple past and past participle hampered)

1. (transitive) To put into a hamper.

   Competition pigeons are hampered for the truck trip to the point of release where the race back starts.

From Middle English hamperen, hampren (“to hamper, oppress”), probably of the same origin as English hamble (“to limp”), Scots hamp (“to halt in walking, stutter”), Dutch haperen (“to falter, hesitate”), German hemmen (“to stop, hinder, check”). More at hamble.

hamper (third-person singular simple present hampers, present participle hampering, simple past and past participle hampered)

1. (transitive) To put a hamper or fetter on; to shackle
   • (Can we date this quote?), Roger L'Estrange, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     A lion hampered in a net.

   Synonyms: ensnare, inveigle

2. To impede in motion or progress.

   Synonyms: hinder, embarrass, encumber

   • 1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem:

     Engend'ring heats, these one by one unbind, Stretch their small tubes, and hamper'd nerves unwind.

   • (Can we date this quote?), John Tillotson, The Advantages of Religion:

     They hamper and entangle our souls.

hamper (plural hampers)

1. A shackle; a fetter; anything which impedes.
2. (nautical) Articles ordinarily indispensable, but in the way at certain times.

• top-hamper (“unnecessary spars and rigging kept aloft”)

• Perham