Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a difficult situation, from which it is hard to extricate oneself; usu. in phr. in a hobble.

1762		Proc. Old Bailey 21 Apr. 88/2: When we went out of that house, the prisoner said, I am in a worse hobble than before.
1776		Foote Capuchin in Works (1799) II 353: But take care what you say! you see what a hobble we had like to have got into.
1781		C. Macklin Man of the World Act IV: I hai gotten him into sic an hobble, that he canno exeest without me.
1791		Proceedings Old Bailey 20 July 427/1: Prisoner. This man, Paterson, that hath sworn against me, often came up to my mother’s apartments to get me to wash his shirt, and got me to pawn a many things, but never brought me into this hobble before.
1804		Proc. Old Bailey 11 Apr. 210/1: I never was in any hobble before, I am as innocent as a child unborn.
1811		J. Poole Hamlet Travestie III v: Horatio, I am sorry for this squabble; I fear ’twill get me in a precious hobble.
1825		T.C. Croker Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1862) 288: My man, you ’re in a pretty hobble.
1838		(con. 1807) ‘Boz’ Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi 137: Here’s Jack Mackintosh has got himself into a pretty hobble, hasn’t he?
1840		Lytton Money V iii: Evelyn! I like you. I’m rich, and anything I can do to get you out of your hobble will give me an excuse to grumble for the rest of my life.
1852		H.B. Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin 53: I’m in the devil of a hobble, and you must help me out.
1859		‘George Eliot’ Adam Bede (1873) 104: I’m a devil of a fellow for getting myself into a hobble.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 183/2: I have to leave off, or I should put my own self in a hobble.
1877		‘A High Private’ Man who was not a Colonel 135: There are three ways out of this hobble.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 545: Don’t get me into a hobble about the gun, an’ I afther goin’ through such hardship.
1888		R. Mulholland A Fair Emigrant 208: But, sure, here’s Misther Rory himself. Never fear but the masther’ll pull ye out of the hobble.
1889		H. Smart Long Odds I 48: ‘I could fancy poor Dick perpetually wanting a lawyer to get him out of some hobble or other’.
1892		E.J. Milliken ’Arry Ballads 44: I got into a ’obble.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 36: Hobble, trouble of some kind.
1941		Western Times 18 Apr. 3/3: Mother did’n do nort to assist me [...] Only too pliased to see me in a ’obble.
1943		G.A. Little Malachi Horan Remembers 86: Talking of Mathers and mares reminds me of the hobble that caught Father Dunne.

2. (Irish) a troublesome person, a term of abuse.

1952

B. MacMahon Children of the Rainbow 87: Your sister Mary is a right hobble!