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Antonyms for hamstring

Grammar : Verb
Spell : ham-string
Phonetic Transcription : ˈhæmˌstrɪŋ

Definition of hamstring

Origin :
  • 1640s, "to disable, render useless," a figurative verbal extension from the noun hamstring "tendon at the back of the knee" (1560s), from ham "bend of the knee" (see ham (n.1)) + string. Cutting this would render a person or animal lame. Related: Hamstrung.
  • [I]n hamstring, -string is not the verb string; we do not string the ham, but do something to the tendon called the hamstring; the verb, that is, is made not from the two words ham & string, but from the noun hamstring. It must therefore make hamstringed. [Fowler]
  • verb disable
Example sentences :
  • They rushed on the count and his lances, and began to hamstring the horses.
  • Extract from : « The Days of Chivalry » by Ernest Louis Victor Jules L'Epine
  • He could not reach the hamstring, as his horse could not gain the proper position.
  • Extract from : « In the Heart of Africa » by Samuel White Baker
  • Would it not be safer to hamstring the bull before he comes on?
  • Extract from : « The Night-Born » by Jack London
  • The boy then sprang forward, and raised a knife as if to hamstring the pony.
  • Extract from : « Captured by the Navajos » by Charles A. Curtis
  • Hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire, etc..
  • Extract from : « The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version » by Various
  • Send against the Phrygian cavalry the German bands, who must hamstring the horses with their long swords.
  • Extract from : « A Christian But a Roman » by Mr Jkai
  • The wolves were running with it, perhaps had been chasing it all night, and were snapping it its heels, trying to hamstring it.
  • Extract from : « Ted Strong in Montana » by Edward C. Taylor
  • Hamstring, ham′string, n. the great tendon at the back of the knee or hock of the hind-leg of a quadruped.
  • Extract from : « Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) » by Various
  • I suppose they feared that some of us might crawl out and hamstring them did they picket them near their camp.
  • Extract from : « The Dash for Khartoum » by George Alfred Henty
  • For a second offence the penalty was to hamstring the fugitive and brand him on the other shoulder.
  • Extract from : « The Journal of Negro History, Vol. I. Jan. 1916 » by Various

Synonyms for hamstring

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019