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Hobble vs Totter - What's the difference?

hobble | totter |

As nouns the difference between hobble and totter

is that hobble is short straps tied between the legs of unfenced horses, allowing them to wander short distances but preventing them from running off while totter is an unsteady movement or gait.

As verbs the difference between hobble and totter

is that hobble is to fetter by tying the legs; to restrict (a horse) with hobbles while totter is to walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall.

hobble

English

Noun

  • (en noun) (usually in plural )
  • Short straps tied between the legs of unfenced horses, allowing them to wander short distances but preventing them from running off.
  • An unsteady, off-balance step.
  • Synonyms

    * tether (rope)

    Verb

  • To fetter by tying the legs; to restrict (a horse) with hobbles.
  • (Charles Dickens)
  • To walk lame, or unevenly.
  • * Dryden
  • The friar was hobbling the same way too.
  • (figurative) To move roughly or irregularly.
  • * Jeffreys
  • The hobbling versification, the mean diction.
  • To perplex; to embarrass.
  • Derived terms

    * hobble skirt * hobbly * unhobble

    totter

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • an unsteady movement or gait
  • (archaic) A rag and bone man.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-04-21, volume=411, issue=8884, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Subtle effects , passage=Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter , slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.}}
  • (archaic) To collect junk or scrap.
  • Synonyms

    * (move unsteadily) teeter, toddle, sway