hobble

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɒbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hob‧ble
• 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.
   • 2017, Sam Shepard, chapter 37, in Spy of the First Person, →ISBN, page 82:

     We made it and we hobbled up the stairs. Or I hobbled. My sons didn't hobble, I hobbled.

3. (archaic, informal) A difficult situation; a scrape.
   • 1845, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, The Cock and Anchor:

     "Saddle a horse—any horse—only let him be sure and fleet," cried Ashwoode, "and I'll pay you his price thrice over!"
     "Well, it's a bargain," replied the groom, promptly; "I don't like to see a gentleman caught in a hobble, if I can help him out of it. […]

4. (dialect, UK and Newfoundland) An odd job; a piece of casual work.

• 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.

   Near-synonyms: shackle, enshackle

   • 1865, Charles Dickens, Doctor Marigold:

     you hobble your old horse and turn him grazing

2. To walk lame, or unevenly.
   • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     The friar was hobbling the same way too.

   • 1988 December 25, Michael Bronski, “Passion Statement”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 24, page 11:

     Pepa runs all over Madrid in high heels and tube skirts that make her hobble and give the impression of restraining a naturally energetic woman.

3. (figurative) To move roughly or irregularly.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, The White Doe of Rylstone:

     The hobbling versification, the mean diction.

4. To disable; to impede.

   Near-synonyms: nobble, hamper, hinder, embarrass

• (walk unevenly): hirple

• hobbel