Dictionary

hamstring en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈhæmstɹɪŋ/

Etymology

From ham (“region back of the knee joint”) + string.

Meanings

1. 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.
   • Lanctot slipped the tourniquet around the other, just under his groin, and twisted it tight, clamping quadriceps and hamstring hard to bone. 2021 October 20, C. J. Chivers, “Fear on Cape Cod as Sharks Hunt Again”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 17 Feb 2022:
2. (informal) The biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus muscles.
   • Developing muscle around both sides of a joint (think biceps and triceps, abs and low back, quads and hamstrings) should be one of your primary training considerations because strength on each side leads to lower injury rates. 2010, Adam Garett, “Fried Hams”, in Reps!, 17:23:

Forms

Synonyms

hammy · hammie · hams

Translations (27)

es isquiotibial (great tendon) · pl ścięgno udowe (great tendon) · de ischiocrurale Muskulatur (great tendon) · ru поджи́лки (great tendon) · de rückseitige Oberschenkelmuskulatur (great tendon) · ga teannán ioscaide (great tendon) · cy llinyn y gar (great tendon) · la mūsculus ischiocrūrālis (great tendon) · ja ハムストリング (great tendon) · wyi karra-gora (great tendon) · ko 햄스트링 (great tendon) · sv knäsena (great tendon) · pdt Hakesän (great tendon) · da hase (great tendon) · fi takareiden lihas (great tendon) · ru подколе́нное сухожи́лие (great tendon) · es músculo isquiotibial (great tendon) · de Hüftgelenkextensoren (great tendon) · mi iohere kātete (great tendon) · tl litid sa alakalakan (great tendon) · bg колянно сухожилие (great tendon) · fr ischio-jambier (great tendon) · cs podkolenní šlacha (great tendon) · de Kniesehne (great tendon) · ar وَتَر اَلْمَأْبَض (great tendon) · hu térdín (great tendon) · sv hassena (great tendon)

hamstring en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈhæmstɹɪŋ/

Etymology

From ham (“region back of the knee joint”) + string.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To lame or disable by cutting the tendons of the ham or knee; to hough.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To cripple; to incapacitate; to disable.
   • So have they hamstrung the valor of the subject by seeking to effeminate us all at home. 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC:
   • Its trademark policies of privatization, deregulation, tax cuts and free trade deals: these have liberated corporations to accumulate enormous profits and treat the atmosphere like a sewage dump, and hamstrung our ability, through the instrument of the state, to plan for our collective welfare. 2017 July 17, Martin Lukacs, “Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 31 Aug 2020:

Forms

Deriveds

hamstringer

Hypernyms

disable

Synonyms

hock · cripple · hough · incapacitate · hox · disable

Translations (18)

pl paraliżować (to disable) · fi lamaannuttaa (to disable) · fi rampauttaa (to disable) · pl krępować (to disable) · tr sinirlemek (to disable) · la subnervō (to disable) · bg контузвам (to disable) · bg осакатявам (to disable) · pl sparaliżować (to disable) · cs paralyzovat (to disable) · pl skrępować (to disable) · ga speir (to disable) · fr paralyser (to disable) · pl ograniczać (to disable) · ota سڭیرلمك (to disable) · cs ochromit (to disable) · ar عَقَرَ (to disable) · pl ograniczyć (to disable)