hamper
/ˈhæm.pə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈham.pə/
hamper noun: a large basket, usually with a cover, used for the packing and carrying of articles or small animals.
Noun (1)
hamper (plural hampers)
- A large basket, usually with a cover, used for the packing and carrying of articles or small animals.
- a hamper of wine
- a clothes hamper
- A wicker or plastic basket specifically for holding laundry (from clothes hamper).
- A gift basket.
Verb (1)
hamper (third-person singular simple present hampers, present participle hampering, simple past and past participle hampered)
- To put into a hamper.
- Competition pigeons are hampered for the truck trip to the point of release where the race back starts.
Verb (2)
hamper (third-person singular simple present hampers, present participle hampering, simple past and past participle hampered)
- To put a hamper or fetter on; to shackle.
- Near-synonym: hobble
- Wife. Away George, away, raise the watch at Ludgate, and bring a Mittimus from the Iustice for this desperate villaine. Now I charge you Gentlemen, see the Kings peace kept. O my heart what a varlet's this to offer manslaughter vpon the harmlesse Gntlewoman?
Cit. I warrant thee (sweet heart) wee'l...1607 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], The Knight of the Burning Pestle, London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Walter Burre, […], published 1613, →OCLC, Act III, signature F2, verso
- Synonyms:
- hobble
- To impede in motion or progress.
- Engend'ring heats, these one by one unbind, Stretch their small tubes, and hamper'd nerves unwind.1712, Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem
- They hamper and entangle our souls.a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Advantages of Religion
Noun (2)
hamper (plural hampers)
- A shackle; a fetter; anything which impedes.
- Articles ordinarily indispensable, but in the way at certain times.
- One afternoon there was a mighty queer noise aloft, which set the men running in every direction. It was the main-t'-gallant-mast. Crash! it broke off just above the cap, and held there by the rigging, dashed with every roll from side to side, with all the hamper that belonged to it.1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC
hamper meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
hamper in Tamil
- இடர் உண்டாக்கு, தடை செய்
hamper in Urdu
- پٹارا, پٹاری, رکاوٹ بننا
hamper in Bengali
- বাধা দেওয়া, বিঘ্নিত করা, গতি ধীর করে দেওয়া
hamper in Telugu
- hamper
- గరిసె garise
- hamper, pannier
- మంకెన maṅkena
More languagesFewer languages
- hamper in Malayalam
- കുട്ട, കൊട്ട, കൂട, പെരുംകൂട
- hamper in Kannada
- ಬುಟ್ಟಿ, ಕುಕ್ಕೆ, ಹೆಡಿಗೆ, ತಡೆ
Examples of hamper in a sentence
- an oyster hamper, which contains two bushels
- NR Senior Programme Manager Adrian Elliott describes the progress to date: "The weather has played a big part in hampering the programme.2020 April 8, Paul Stephen, “ECML dive-under drives divergence”, in Rail, page 44:
Synonyms of hamper
Forms of hamper
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hampers |
| alternative form | hampire |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hampers |
| present participle | hampering |
| past participle | hampered |
| past | hampered |
Origin of hamper
From Middle English hamper, contracted from hanaper, hanypere, from Anglo-Norman hanaper, Old French hanapier, hanepier (“case for holding a large goblet or cup”), from hanap (“goblet, drinking cup”), from Frankish *hnapp (“cup, bowl, basin”), from Proto-Germanic *hnappaz (“cup, bowl”). Cognate with Old High German hnapf (“cup, bowl, basin”) (German Napf (“bowl”)), Dutch nap (“cup”), Old English hnæpp (“bowl”). More at nap.
From Middle English hamperen, hampren (“to hamper, oppress”), probably of the same origin as English hamble (“to limp”), Scots hamp (“to halt in walking, stutter”), Dutch haperen (“to falter, hesitate”), German hemmen (“to stop, hinder, check”). More at hamble.
Words formed from hamper
Words that rhyme with hamper
Questions about hamper
- What does hamper mean?
- Hamper means a large basket, usually with a cover, used for the packing and carrying of articles or small animals.
- What is hamper in Tamil?
- Hamper in Tamil is இடர் உண்டாக்கு, தடை செய். See Hamper meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use hamper in a sentence?
- an oyster hamper, which contains two bushels
- What part of speech is hamper?
- Hamper can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce hamper?
- Hamper is pronounced /ˈhæm.pə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hamper?
- The plural of hamper is hampers.
Words near hamper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hamper (page history and authors); hamper (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hamper (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Hamper (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); గరిసె (Telugu) (page history and authors); hamper (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); hamper (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hamper.wav.
Cite this entry: “hamper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hamper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.