Library / English Dictionary

HAMPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A basket usually with a cover

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("hamper" is a kind of...):

basket; handbasket (a container that is usually woven and has handles)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hamper"):

clothes basket; clothes hamper; laundry basket; voider (a hamper that holds dirty clothes to be washed or wet clothes to be dried)

food hamper (a hamper for packing and transporting food)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner)

Synonyms:

bond; hamper; shackle; trammel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("hamper" is a kind of...):

constraint; restraint (a device that retards something's motion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hamper"):

ball and chain (heavy iron ball attached to a prisoner by a chain)

fetter; hobble (a shackle for the ankles or feet)

cuff; handcuff; handlock; manacle (shackle that consists of a metal loop that can be locked around the wrist; usually used in pairs)

chains; irons (metal shackles; for hands or legs)

Derivation:

hamper (prevent the progress or free movement of)

hamper (put at a disadvantage)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Prevent the progress or free movement of

Example:

the imperialist nation wanted to strangle the free trade between the two small countries

Synonyms:

cramp; halter; hamper; strangle

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "hamper" is one way to...):

bound; confine; limit; restrict; throttle; trammel (place limits on (extent or amount or access))

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

hamper (a restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Put at a disadvantage

Example:

The brace I have to wear is hindering my movements

Synonyms:

hamper; handicap; hinder

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "hamper" is one way to...):

disadvantage; disfavor; disfavour (put at a disadvantage; hinder, harm)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

hamper (a restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner))

Credits

 Context examples: 

That knowledge gap hampered a full understanding of past climate dynamics.

(Ice cave in Transylvania yields window into region's past, NSF)

I expected a hamper from Peggotty, and brightened at the order.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Reformation may be its cure; and I could reform—I have strength yet for that—if—but where is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A small dip in intensity, for example, should be apparent in CMB radio signals, but Earth's crowded radio-wave environment has hampered astronomers' search.

(Astronomers detect ancient signal from first stars in universe, National Science Foundation)

Jacob was a pioneer in the study of German philology, and although Wilhelm’s work was hampered by poor health the brothers collaborated in the creation of a German dictionary, not completed until a century after their deaths.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

These whales I have known so large, that a man could hardly carry one upon his shoulders; and sometimes, for curiosity, they are brought in hampers to Lorbrulgrud; I saw one of them in a dish at the king’s table, which passed for a rarity, but I did not observe he was fond of it; for I think, indeed, the bigness disgusted him, although I have seen one somewhat larger in Greenland.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

On the 23rd you incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously inconvenienced by you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered in my plans; and now, at the close of April, I find myself placed in such a position through your continual persecution that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty. The situation is becoming an impossible one.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At sunset the tent was struck, hampers packed, wickets pulled up, boats loaded, and the whole party floated down the river, singing at the tops of their voices.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I provided, and sent down by the Norwood coach the night before, a delicate little hamper, amounting in itself, I thought, almost to a declaration.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

To render his visits the more agreeable, my aunt had instructed me to open a credit for him at a cake shop, which was hampered with the stipulation that he should not be served with more than one shilling's-worth in the course of any one day.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)