In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
HAMSTRING
hamstring, hamstring tendon
(noun) one of the tendons at the back of the knee
hamstring
(verb) cripple by cutting the hamstring
hamstring
(verb) make ineffective or powerless; “The teachers were hamstrung by the overly rigid schedules”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
hamstring (plural hamstrings)
(anatomy) One of the great tendons situated in each side of the ham, or space back of the knee, and connected with the muscles of the back of the thigh.
(informal) The biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus muscles.
Synonym: hams
Verb
hamstring (third-person singular simple present hamstrings, present participle hamstringing, simple past and past participle hamstringed or hamstrung)
(transitive) To lame or disable by cutting the tendons of the ham or knee; to hough.
Synonyms: hock, hough, hox
(transitive, figurative) To cripple; to incapacitate; to disable. [from 1640s]
Synonyms: cripple, incapacitate, disable
Hypernyms
• See disable
Anagrams
• Stringham
Source: Wiktionary
Ham"string`, n. (Anat.)
Definition: One of the great tendons situated in each side of the ham, or space back of the knee, and connected with the muscles of the back of the thigh.
Ham"string`, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hamstrung; p. pr. & vb. n. Hamstringing. See String.]
Definition: To lame or disable by cutting the tendons of the ham or knee; to hough; hence, to cripple; to incapacitate; to disable. So have they hamstrung the valor of the subject by seeking to effeminate us all at home. Milton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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19 June 2025
ROOTS
(noun) the condition of belonging to a particular place or group by virtue of social or ethnic or cultural lineage; “his roots in Texas go back a long way”; “he went back to Sweden to search for his roots”; “his music has African roots”
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