hamstring

1 :  to make ineffective or powerless :  cripple hamstrung by guilt

2 :  to cripple by cutting the leg tendons

1a:  either of two groups of tendons bounding the upper part of the popliteal space at the back of the knee and forming the tendons of insertion of some muscles of the back of the thighb:  hamstring muscle

2:  a large tendon above and behind the hock of a quadruped corresponding to the human Achilles tendon

:  to cripple by cutting the leg tendons folklore has it that wolf packs try to hamstring their prey—John Madson