HOBBLE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hobble mean? 

• HOBBLE (noun)
  The noun HOBBLE has 2 senses:

1. a shackle for the ankles or feet

2. the uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg

  Familiarity information: HOBBLE used as a noun is rare.

• HOBBLE (verb)
  The verb HOBBLE has 3 senses:

1. walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury

2. hamper the action or progress of

3. strap the foreleg and hind leg together on each side (of a horse) in order to keep the legs on the same side moving in unison

  Familiarity information: HOBBLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOBBLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A shackle for the ankles or feet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fetter; hobble

Hypernyms ("hobble" is a kind of...):

bond; hamper; shackle; trammel (a restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner))

Derivation:

hobble (strap the foreleg and hind leg together on each side (of a horse) in order to keep the legs on the same side moving in unison)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

hitch; hobble; limp

Hypernyms ("hobble" is a kind of...):

gait (a person's manner of walking)

Derivation:

hobble (walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury)

• HOBBLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hobble    ... he / she / it hobbles   
Past simple: hobbled   
Past participle: hobbled   
-ing form: hobbling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

gimp; hitch; hobble; limp

Context example:

The old woman hobbles down to the store every day

Hypernyms (to "hobble" is one way to...):

walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

They hobble up the hill

Derivation:

hobble (the uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg)

hobbler (someone who has a limp and walks with a hobbling gait)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hamper the action or progress of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

The chairman was hobbled by the all-powerful dean

Hypernyms (to "hobble" is one way to...):

hinder; impede (be a hindrance or obstacle to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Strap the foreleg and hind leg together on each side (of a horse) in order to keep the legs on the same side moving in unison

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

hobble; hopple

Context example:

hobble race horses

Hypernyms (to "hobble" is one way to...):

strap (tie with a strap)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

hobble (a shackle for the ankles or feet)

 Context examples 

Hobbling about on it from morning till night was not helping it any.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

What would have happened next I cannot say, if Aunt March had not come hobbling in at this interesting minute.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Now, here it is: What could I do, with this old timber I hobble on?

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could, down the steps.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A worse man to deal with was a wooden-legged cripple who came hobbling down the path, so weak and so old to all appearance that a child need not stand in fear of him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was an invalid, keeping his bed half the time, and the other half hobbling round the house with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by the gardener in a Bath chair.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We apprehend his imperial highness, the heir to the crown, to have some tendency towards the high heels; at least we can plainly discover that one of his heels is higher than the other, which gives him a hobble in his gait.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But if he heard the tap of his wife’s stick approaching him, his talk would break off at once into the garden and its prospects, for she was still haunted by the fear that he would some day go back to the ring, and she never missed the old man for an hour without being convinced that he had hobbled off to wrest the belt from the latest upstart champion.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She sat down in one corner of the room, and began to bewail her hard fate; when on a sudden the door opened, and a droll-looking little man hobbled in, and said, Good morrow to you, my good lass; what are you weeping for?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

After a sleepless night, I arose weak and in agony, to hobble through my second day on the Ghost.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)