the.com/hobble

means To walk unsteadily and with difficulty, usually from pain, stiffness, or injury — or, as a verb, to tie an animal's legs together so it can't run off.

from Hobble shows up in English in the medieval period, likely related to Dutch 'hobbelen' (to rock or stumble about) and part of a cluster of thumpy, lurching words like 'hobbledehoy.' The sense of tying an animal's legs grew naturally alongside the walking sense — both describe a gait that's been forcibly shortened and made clumsy, whether by stiff joints or a rope.