different between hobble vs slouch

English

Etymology

From Middle English hobblen, hobelen, akin to Middle Dutch hoblen, hobbelen (Modern Dutch hobbelen).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?b?l/
• Rhymes: -?b?l

Noun

hobble (plural hobbles)

1. (chiefly in the plural) One of the short straps tied between the legs of unfenced horses, allowing them to wander short distances but preventing them from running off.
2. An unsteady, off-balance step.
3. A difficult situation; a scrape.
4. (dialect, Britain and Newfoundland) An odd job; a piece of casual work.

Synonyms

• tether (rope)

Translations

Verb

hobble (third-person singular simple present hobbles, present participle hobbling, simple past and past participle hobbled)

1. To fetter by tying the legs; to restrict (a horse) with hobbles.
   • 1865, Charles Dickens, Doctor Marigold

     you hobble your old horse and turn him grazing

2. To walk lame, or unevenly.

   • The friar was hobbling the same way too.

3. (figuratively) To move roughly or irregularly.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, The White Doe of Rylstone

     The hobbling versification, the mean diction.

4. To perplex; to embarrass.

Synonyms

• (walk unevenly): hirple

Derived terms

• hobble skirt
• hobbly
• unhobble

Translations

Anagrams

• hobbel

English

Etymology

From Middle English slugge, from Old Norse slókr (“a slouching, lazy fellow”), cognate to Swedish sloka (“to wilt, slouch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sla?t??/
• Rhymes: -a?t?

Noun

slouch (plural slouches)

1. A hanging down of the head; a drooping posture; a limp appearance

   He sat with an unenthusiastic slouch.

2. Any depression or hanging down, as of a hat brim.

   The plant hung in a permanent slouch.

3. Someone who is slow to act.
   • 2014, Ian Jack, "Is this the end of Britishness", The Guardian, 16 September 2014:

     In any case, Scotland has been no slouch at national invention. The Greek temple to commemorate James Thomson wasn’t the only monument raised by the 11th Earl of Buchan, who was a friend and neighbour of Walter Scott, and as great a romancer in his obsession with ruins, battlements and fancy dress.

4. (dated) An awkward, heavy, clownish fellow.

Derived terms

• slouch hat

Translations

Verb

slouch (third-person singular simple present slouches, present participle slouching, simple past and past participle slouched)

1. (intransitive) To hang or droop; to adopt a limp posture

   Do not slouch when playing a flute.

2. (intransitive) To walk in a clumsy, lazy manner.

   I slouched to the fridge to see if there was anything to eat.

3. (transitive) To cause to hang down or droop; to depress.
   • 1896, Duncan Campbell Scott, In the Village of Viger (page 107)

     […] then he slouched his head down on the table and pretended to sleep.

   • 2012, Kim Vogel Sawyer, When Hope Blossoms (page 281)

     Disappointment slouched him into the pew.

References