nobble

American  

[nob-uhl] / ˈnɒb əl /

verb (used with object)

British Slang.

nobbled, nobbling

1. to drug or disable (a race horse) to prevent its winning a race.

2. to convince (a person) by fraudulent methods; misrepresent or lie to.

3. to swindle; defraud.

4. to seize (a person); hold for arrest.

---

nobble British  

/ ˈnɒbəl /

verb

1. to disable (a racehorse), esp with drugs

2. to win over or outwit (a person) by underhand means

3. to suborn (a person, esp a juror) by threats, bribery, etc

4. to steal; filch

5. to get hold of; grab

6. to kidnap

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nobbler
  noun

Etymology

Origin of nobble

First recorded in 1840–50; back formation from nobbler, variant of hobbler ( def. ) (dialectal phrase an 'obbler being taken as a nobbler )

Example Sentences

Last month it announced plans to nobble a century-old law protecting wild birds; it was passed a few months before the death of Roosevelt, a keen ornithologist.

From Economist • May 3, 2018

Several who have been subject to the office’s inquiries were involved in the effort, at a closed-door meeting of Republican congressmen, to nobble it.

From Economist • Jan. 5, 2017

The senior officer denied allegations that the man was held and questioned in a bid to "nobble" him and sabotage attempts by Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton to overturn their convictions.

From BBC • Oct. 16, 2013

Oakeshott warns: "It is as wrong as it is stupid for anyone in Whitehall to be trying to nobble the Vickers commission even before it has done its interim report."

From The Guardian • Apr. 2, 2011

"You'd better hurry over, my lady," Lin Chih-hsiao's wife said; "for as this money will be issued through our mistress Secunda, she'll nobble the whole of it."

From Hung Lou Meng, Book II Or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel in Two Books by Joly, H. Bencraft