hamstring
/ˈhæmstɹɪŋ/ noun, verb
Forms hamstrings hamstringing hamstrung hamstringed
- noun (anatomy) One of the great tendons situated in each side of the ham, or space back of the knee, and connected with the muscles of the back of the thigh.
- noun (informal) The biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus muscles.
- verb (transitive) To lame or disable by cutting the tendons of the ham or knee; to hough.
- verb (transitive, figurative) To cripple; to incapacitate; to disable.
Synonyms
hams hammy hammie hock hough hox cripple incapacitate disable hamstring tendon
Etymology
From ham (“region back of the knee joint”) + string.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hamstring”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details