hobble

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To walk or move along haltingly or with difficulty; limp.
2. v. To put a device around the legs of (a horse, for example) so as to hamper but not prevent movement.
3. v. To cause to limp.
4. v. To hamper the action or progress of; impede. See Synonyms at hamper¹.
5. n. A hobbling walk or gait.
6. n. A device, such as a rope or strap, used to hobble an animal.
7. n. Archaic An awkward situation.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To go with a hop or hitch; walk with a hitch; go on crutches; go lamely; limp.
2. To dance.
3. To move roughly or irregularly, as verse.
4. To tie the legs of together so as to impede or prevent free motion; clog; hopple.
5. To perplex; embarrass.
6. n. An unequal, halting gait; a limp; an awkward step.
7. n. Difficulty; perplexity; scrape.
8. n. Anything used to hamper the feet of an animal, especially a rope tied to the fore legs of a horse to insure its being caught when wanted; a clog; a fetter. Hobbles are made of leather and also of iron, in various patterns; and the name of one such article is then commonly in the plural, like hand-cuffs, manacles, shackles, etc.: as, to put the hobbles on a horse or mule.

Wiktionary

1. n. Short straps tied between the legs of unfenced horses, allowing them to wander short distances but preventing them from running off.
2. n. An unsteady, off-balance step.
3. v. To restrict a horse with hobbles.
4. v. To walk unevenly.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To walk lame, bearing chiefly on one leg; to walk with a hitch or hop, or with crutches.
2. v. To move roughly or irregularly; -- said of style in writing.
3. v. To fetter by tying the legs; to hopple; to clog.
4. v. To perplex; to embarrass.
5. n. An unequal gait; a limp; a halt.
6. n. Same as Hopple.
7. n. Difficulty; perplexity; embarrassment.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the uneven manner of walking that results from an injured leg
2. n. a shackle for the ankles or feet
3. v. strap the foreleg and hind leg together on each side (of a horse) in order to keep the legs on the same side moving in unison
4. v. walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury
5. v. hamper the action or progress of