CRAMP


Meaning of CRAMP in English

I. ˈkramp, -raa(ə)mp, -raimp noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English crampe, from Middle French, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Dutch crampe cramp, hook

1.

a.

(1) : a spasmodic painful involuntary contraction of a muscle

a cramp in the leg

(2) : a case or instance of such a contraction

suffering from the cramp

b. : a temporary paralysis of certain muscles from overuse — see writer's cramp

c.

(1) : a sharp abdominal pain — used usually in plural

(2) cramps plural : painful menstruation

2. cramps plural

a. : a partial paralysis of the hindquarters occasionally seen in pregnant animals

b. : the condition of birds unable to fly as a result of narrow confinement

II. noun

( -s )

Etymology: obsolete Dutch krampe hook (from Middle Dutch crampe ) or Low German, from Middle Low German; akin to Old High German kramph bent, Old Norse kreppa to clench, Latvian grumbt to become wrinkled, Old English cradol cradle — more at cradle

1.

a. : a device usually of iron bent at the ends or of dovetail form used to hold together blocks (as of stone or timbers)

b. : clamp I 1

c. : a piece of wood used in the manufacture of shoes and having a curve corresponding to that of the upper part of the instep on which the upper leather of a boot is stretched — called also crimp

2.

a. : something that confines or contracts : restraint , shackle

authoritarian cramps on free thinking

b. : the quality or state of being confined or compressed : constraint

the cramp and pettiness of bourgeois life

III. verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: partly from cramp (I) , partly from cramp (II)

transitive verb

1. : to cause to have a cramp : affect with or as if with cramp

gout cramping his limbs

his hands were cramped for lack of movement

2. : compress , restrain , confine

prisoners cramped in fetters

a spirit cramped with dogma

they cramped the livestock in ancient barns

also : to restrain from free expression of one's tastes or skill : dampen the spirits of — used especially in the phrase cramp one's style

3. : to turn (the front wheels of a vehicle) to right or left

cramp the wheels into the curb … when parked — C.P.Taylor

4.

a. : to fasten or hold with a cramp

b. : to form on a cramp

cramp bootlegs

intransitive verb

: to suffer from or as if from cramps

IV. adjective

Etymology: probably from cramp (III)

1. : knotty , difficult

not to add any of the cramp reasons for this opinion — S.T.Coleridge

2. : contracted , narrow , confined

a cramp corner

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.