Hambled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Crippled or mutilated by having the tendons behind the knee or hock severed so the limb can no longer bear weight
2. Disabled by a cut through the hamstring tendons, leaving a leg or foreleg unable to function properly
3. Maimed by cutting the sinews of a limb, a method once used to disable horses, dogs, or livestock

Etymology: "Hambled" is the past tense and past participle of "hamble", a verb meaning to hamstring or mutilate an animal, usually by cutting its tendons so it could no longer run. The verb reaches back to Old English "hamelian", which meant to hamstring, and beyond that to a Proto-Germanic root meaning to mutilate. That ancient root also gave German "hammeln" and Dutch "hamel", both of which referred to a castrated ram, so the animal-husbandry sense has persisted across the Germanic languages for a very long time. The English verb came down through Middle English "hamlen" and "hamelen". Its older meaning of cutting the hamstring makes the word a blunt, practical term from farming and butchery, the sort of vocabulary that grew up around managing livestock.

Synonyms: hamstrung, maimed, crippled, disabled