From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhobblehob‧ble /ˈhɒbəl $ ˈhɑː-/ verb 1 [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]WALK to walk with difficulty, especially because your legs or feet hurt → limp He hobbled into the room on crutches.► see thesaurus at walk2 [transitive]FAIL to deliberately make sure that a plan, system etc cannot work successfully Many start-ups are hobbled by a lack of sufficient capital.Grammar Hobble is usually passive in this meaning.3 [transitive]FASTEN/DO UP to loosely fasten two of an animal’s legs together, to stop it from running away→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
hobble• Old men crossing the room, men with bread crumbs in their pockets, foreigners, hobbling.• My knee was stiff and painful, and I could only hobble.• Mistakes can hobble a deal from the start.• Mr. Waddicar the caretaker was hobbling across the landing, like an old lollipop man frustrating traffic.• A sprained toe hobbled Clemons for most of the week.• The nights were growing darker, the corridor was very long, and far down its length something was hobbling, hobbling.• Brave, she folded her parasol, hobbled off to the right, leaving the path.• Laurel hobbled out of the taxi on crutches.• After practice I watch him walk painfully over to the bleachers, wrap up his knee and hobble out.• Aunt Sophy hobbled slowly across the room on her crutches.• He watched a young man hobbling up a trail, one foot torn away at the ankle.• I hobbled upstairs and lay on the floor to get my shorts off.• I was all too soon up and about, hobbling with a stick.Origin hobble (1200-1300) Probably from Dutch or Low German 