Definition

1. Verb:
   • To disable by drugging, especially a racehorse: To secretly administer a drug to an animal, typically a horse, to prevent it from performing well in a competition.
   • To kidnap or seize someone illegally: To take someone away by force, often to demand money for their return.
   • To steal or obtain dishonestly: To take something, especially money, through trickery or deceit.
   • To influence or bribe someone corruptly: To gain someone's support or cooperation through underhanded methods.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • The gang planned to nobble the favorite horse to fix the race. (They intended to drug the horse to influence the race's outcome.)
  • Criminals attempted to nobble the witness before the trial. (They tried to illegally influence or intimidate the witness.)
  • He was accused of trying to nobble funds from the charity. (He was accused of trying to obtain the money dishonestly.)
  • The reporter was nobbled and held for ransom. (The reporter was kidnapped for ransom.)

Advanced Usage

• "To nobble a jury": To illegally influence members of a jury, such as through bribery or threats.
  • There were allegations that someone had tried to nobble the jury.
• "To nobble the evidence": To tamper with or interfere with evidence to affect a legal outcome.
  • The defense claimed the police had nobbled the evidence.

Variants and Related Words

• Nobbling (gerund/noun): The act of disabling by drugging or illegally influencing.
  • The nobbling of the horse was a serious scandal.

Synonyms

• Drug (verb): To administer a drug to.
• Kidnap (verb): To take someone away illegally.
• Swindle (verb): To cheat someone out of money or property.
• Tamper with (phrasal verb): To interfere with something improperly.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Constructions

(Note: "Nobble" is not commonly used with particles to form standard phrasal verbs. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)

Related Idioms

(Note: There are no common idioms centered solely on the word "nobble." Its usage is typically direct and literal within the contexts defined above.)

Verb

1. disable by drugging
   • nobble the race horses
2. take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom
   • The industrialist's son was kidnapped
3. make off with belongings of others
4. deprive of by deceit
   • He swindled me out of my inheritance
   • She defrauded the customers who trusted her
   • the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change