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Lurch vs Hobble - What's the difference?

lurch | hobble |

As nouns the difference between lurch and hobble

is that lurch is amphibian while hobble is short straps tied between the legs of unfenced horses, allowing them to wander short distances but preventing them from running off.

As a verb hobble is

to fetter by tying the legs; to restrict (a horse) with hobbles.

lurch

English

Etymology 1

Noun

(es)
  • A sudden or unsteady movement.
    • the lurch of a ship, or of a drunkard
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
    • Yet I hoped by grouting at the earth below it to be able to dislodge the stone at the side; but while I was considering how best to begin, the candle flickered, the wick gave a sudden lurch to one side, and I was left in darkness.

    Verb

    (es)
  • To make such a sudden, unsteady movement.
  • (obsolete) To leave someone in the lurch; to cheat.
  • * South
    • Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant.
  • (obsolete) To steal; to rob.
  • * Shakespeare
    • And in the brunt of seventeen battles since / He lurched all swords of the garland.

    See also

    * leave someone in the lurch *

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) (lena) lurcare.

    Verb

    (es)
  • (obsolete) To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear.

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) .

    Noun

  • An old game played with dice and counters; a variety of the game of tables.
  • A double score in cribbage for the winner when his/her adversary has been left in the lurch.
  • * Walpole
    • Lady Blandford has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch .

    Anagrams

    *

    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