I. ˈhampə(r), ˈhaam-, ˈhaim- transitive verb
( hampered ; hampered ; hampering -p(ə)riŋ ; hampers )
Etymology: Middle English hamperen: perhaps akin to Flemish hampern to stutter, Middle Dutch hāperen
1.
a. : to restrict the movement of by bonds or obstacles : fetter , impede
elaborate hampering clothes — James Laver
icebergs hampered the progress of the ship
pitching … violently in the seaway, hampered by her heavy tow — R.S.Porteous
b. : to interfere with the operation of : disrupt
radio communications hampered by static — Globe & Mail
2.
a. : curb , restrain , limit
the view … that rhyme and meter hamper the poet's free expression — J.L.Lowes
did nothing to hamper the boisterousness of the occasion — Silas Spitzer
b. : to interfere with : encumber , handicap , obstruct
an obsolete ideology can hamper an economy — V.G.Childe
hampered by lack of money as often as by lack of initiative — H.J.Hanham
Synonyms:
clog , trammel , fetter , shackle , manacle , hog-tie : hamper , the most general of these terms, can imply any impediment or restraining agent that encumbers, delays, or interferes with an action
like other branches of science, history is now encumbered and hampered by its own mass — Henry Adams
his principle was to choose competent lieutenants, and then to leave them to work without hampering interference — Irish Digest
hampered in his progress by the weight of a large bundle on his back
clog usually implies a foreign useless impediment that clings, gums up, or obstructs
all common ambitions, rank, possessions, power, the things which clog man's feet — John Buchan
his mind is clogged with the strangest miscellany of truth and marvel — V.L.Parrington
waved the traffic away from the clogged thoroughfare — Ralph Gustafson
trammel suggests entanglement by or confinement within a net
had now become trammeled in events — Ethel Wilson
a landscape of increasing strangeness, replete with things shocking to a culture- trammeled understanding — B.L.Whorf
fetter suggests the total or almost total crippling restraint of chains or manacles
a tendency toward introversion … had slowly mastered him, fettering his actions and segregating him in an unhappy little world — I.V.Morris
watched a world prepare for war while he was fettered by the nation's propensity for isolationism — Estes Kefauver
shackle and manacle are very similar to although stronger than fetter , usually suggesting a total impeding of action
if the power of the courts stereotypes legislation within the forms and limits … expedient in the 19th or perhaps the 18th century, it shackles progress and breeds distrust and suspicion of the courts — B.N.Cardozo
keep Rome manacled hand and foot: no fear of unruliness — Robert Browning
hog-tie implies a making completely helpless or a total thwarting
as soon as the senator can get us hog-tied to that extent, he will … ram these unconstitutional measures down our throats — Congressional Record
accuse Americans of being hog-tied to business — advt
II. noun
( -s )
1. archaic : something that impedes : obstruction , shackle
if the Fourteenth Amendment is not to be a greater hamper … than I think was intended — O.W.Holmes †1935
2. : top-hamper
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English hampere, alteration of hanaper — more at hanaper
: a basket or box usually with a cover for packing, storing, or transporting food and other articles: as
a. : a basket often of wickerwork for carrying food or drink
a picnic hamper
helped … the yardman to pack the game in hampers — Adrian Bell
b. : a container of standardized capacity for shipping fruits and vegetables that is of splint, stave, or fiberboard construction and is circular, elliptical, or polygonal in shape with a top diameter usually greater than the bottom, with slatted sides, and with a bottom that may be loose, stapled, or nailed in place or formed by a continuation of the sides — compare basket 1
c. : a small ventilated receptacle for laundry made of wood, plastic, or metal and usually having a flat side to fit against a wall
d. : a large canvas container on casters used for sorting and moving mail in a post office
IV. transitive verb
( hampered ; hampered ; hampering -p(ə)riŋ ; hampers )
chiefly Britain
1. : to pack in a hamper
trifles … hampered up together — T.A.Browne
2. : to present with a hamper of food or wine
something particularly charming about being hampered at Christmas time — Westminster Gazette