hobble

n. 1. An unequal gait; a limp; a halt; as, he has a hobble in his gait. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Same as Hopple. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Difficulty; perplexity; embarrassment. Waterton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Hobbled p. pr. & vb. n. Hobbling ] [ OE. hobelen, hoblen, freq. of hoppen to hop; akin to D. hobbelen, hoblen, hoppeln. See Hop to jump, and cf. Hopple ] 1. To walk lame, bearing chiefly on one leg; to walk with a hitch or hop, or with crutches. [ 1913 Webster ]

The friar was hobbling the same way too. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move roughly or irregularly; -- said of style in writing. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

The hobbling versification, the mean diction. Jeffreys. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A low bush (Viburnum lantanoides) having long, straggling branches and handsome flowers. It is found in the Northern United States. Called also shinhopple. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. also hobeler, OF. hobelier, LL. hobellarius. See Hobby a horse. ] (Eng. Hist.) One who by his tenure was to maintain a horse for military service; a kind of light horseman in the Middle Ages who was mounted on a hobby. Hallam. Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who hobbles. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A woman's skirt so scant at the bottom as to restrain freedom of movement after the fashion of a hobble. -- Hob"ble-skirt`ed, a. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]