[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/hamstring.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / hamstring

[← H](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/H/)

# hamstring

«hamstring» in Mova's school dictionary: **One of the strong tendons or muscles at the back of the…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a hamstring, hamstrings); verb (hamstring, hamstrings, hamstrung, hamstringing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) One of the strong tendons or muscles at the back of the thigh, above the knee. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#m1)

2) (verb) To stop someone or something from working well: the team was hamstrung by injuries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#m2)

3) (verb, old) To cut an animal's hamstring so it cannot run. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In PE and sports lessons the hamstrings are stretched in warm-ups; a «hamstring injury» or «pulled hamstring» is common in football, rugby and running. In news it describes plans that are held back by lack of money or rules. Phrases: pull a hamstring, hamstring stretch, hamstrung by.

### examples

- Stretch your hamstrings before you run. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#x1)
- The striker pulled a hamstring and was off for a month. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#x2)
- Touch your toes to feel your hamstrings stretch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#x3)
- The project was hamstrung by a lack of money. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#x4)
- Hamstring injuries are common in sprinters. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#x5)
- The physio taped up her sore hamstring. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/#x6)

### note

Past tense: hamstrung (also hamstringed, rarer). One word: ham + string. «Ham» is an old word for the back of the knee. In science, the hamstrings bend the knee, the opposite of the quadriceps.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «hamstring» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/hamstring/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.