From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnobblenob‧ble /ˈnɒbəl $ ˈnɑː-/ verb [transitive] British English informal 1 MONEYFORCE somebody TO DO somethingto make someone do what you want by illegally offering them money or threatening them → bribe The jury had been nobbled and the case had to be reheard.2 DSHto prevent a horse from winning a race, especially by giving it drugs3 ATTENTIONto get someone’s attention, especially in order to persuade them to do something I was nobbled by my deaf old aunt and couldn’t get away.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
nobble• Whatever, these are the people the publishers really want to nobble, and they don't come to conference.• Jack Butler really didn't like the idea that he had been nobbled and worse than that, nobbled by a girl.• The problem with this, of course, is that, as in most sports, some competitors are nobbled from the start.• Good fun, anyway - but oh dear, people do nobble one, don't they?• I can't say that I blame George Washington, or, my father who nobbled our London one by pruning it.• The hon. Member for Dagenham must have been speaking out of turn at that time; he has certainly been nobbled since.Origin nobble (1800-1900) Perhaps from knobble “to hit with the closed hand” ((1800-1900)) 