hobble

From Middle English hobblen, hobelen, akin to Middle Dutch hoblen, hobbelen (Modern Dutch hobbelen).

• Rhymes: -ɒbəl

hobble (plural hobbles)

1. (chiefly in the plural) One of the short straps tied between the legs of unfenced horses, allowing them to wander short distances but preventing them from running off.
2. An unsteady, off-balance step.
3. A difficult situation; a scrape.

• tether (rope)

hobble (third-person singular simple present hobbles, present participle hobbling, simple past and past participle hobbled)

1. To fetter by tying the legs; to restrict (a horse) with hobbles.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Dickens to this entry?)

2. To walk lame, or unevenly.
   • Dryden

     The friar was hobbling the same way too.

3. (figuratively) To move roughly or irregularly.
   • Jeffreys

     The hobbling versification, the mean diction.

4. To perplex; to embarrass.

• hobble skirt
• hobbly
• unhobble

• hobbel