HAMSTRING

I. noun Date: 1565 1. either of two groups of tendons at the back of the human knee, any of three muscles at the back of the thigh that function to flex and rotate the leg and extend the thigh, a large tendon above and behind the hock of a quadruped, II. transitive verb (hamstrung; ~ing) Date: 1641 to make ineffective or powerless ; cripple , to cripple by cutting the leg tendons