DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
3.15.211.71

Search for:
[Show options]
[Pronunciation] [Help] [Database Info] [Server Info]

1 definition found

From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 Cramp n.
 1. That which confines or contracts; a restraint; a shackle; a hindrance.
    A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind.   --L'Estrange.
    Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear.   --Cowper.
 2. Masonry A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron.
 3. Carp. A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the joints of framework, etc.
 4. A piece of wood having a curve corresponding to that of the upper part of the instep, on which the upper leather of a boot is stretched to give it the requisite shape.
 5. Med. A spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, as of the leg.
    The cramp, divers nights, gripeth him in his legs.   --Sir T. More.
 6. Med. A paralysis of certain muscles due to excessive use; as, writer's cramp; milker's cramp, etc.
 Cramp bone, the patella of a sheep; -- formerly used as a charm for the cramp. --Halliwell. “He could turn cramp bones into chess men.” --Dickens.
 Cramp ring, a ring formerly supposed to have virtue in averting or curing cramp, as having been consecrated by one of the kings of England on Good Friday.