Noah Webster
Hamper
HAM'PER, noun [contracted form hanaper, or from hand pannier.]
1. A large basket for conveying things to market, etc.
2. Fetters, or some instrument that shackles.
[This signification and that of the verb following indicate that this word is from hanaper, and that the latter is from the sense of interweaving twigs.]
HAM'PER, verb transitive [See the Noun.] To shackle; to entangle; hence, to impede in motion or progress, or to render progress difficult.
A lion hampered in a net.
1. To ensnare; to inveigle; to catch with allurements.
2. To tangle; to render complicated.
3. To perplex; to embarrass.
Hampered by the laws.