Other forms: hamstrings
To hamstring is to cripple somebody, or to destroy their ability to act. Hamstring the reforms, hamstring the effort, hamstring a rival.
The literal meaning is brutal and old: cutting the tendons behind the knee, which was done to horses and to people in war. The figurative sense is now far commoner, and the past form is hamstrung. As a noun, the hamstring muscles run down the back of the thigh.
1verbhamstringTo destroy somebody's ability to act.
“The new rules will hamstring small charities that can't afford to hire lawyers.”
2nountendonA tendon or muscle at the back of the thigh.
“The striker pulled a hamstring and limped off the pitch.”
hamstring is a crippling, or a tendon.
From ham + string.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire