Cramp : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: Cramp	by the DICT Development Group
5 results for Cramp
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
cramp n a painful and involuntary muscular contraction [syn: spasm, cramp, muscle spasm] a clamp for holding pieces of wood together while they are glued a strip of metal with ends bent at right angles; used to hold masonry together Synonym(s): cramp, cramp iron v secure with a cramp; "cramp the wood" prevent the progress or free movement of; "He was hampered in his efforts by the bad weather"; "the imperialist nation wanted to strangle the free trade between the two small countries" Synonym(s): hamper, halter, cramp, strangle affect with or as if with a cramp suffer from sudden painful contraction of a muscle
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Cramp \Cramp\, n. (Med.) A paralysis of certain muscles due to excessive use; as, writer's cramp; milker's cramp, etc.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Cramp \Cramp\ (kr[acr]mp), n. [OE. crampe, craumpe; akin to D. & Sw. kramp, Dan. krampe, G. krampf (whence F. crampe), Icel. krappr strait, narrow, and to E. crimp, crumple; cf. cram. See {Grape}.] 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. {Cramp bone}, the patella of a sheep; -- formerly used as a charm for the cramp. --Halliwell. [bd]He could turn cramp bones into chess men.[b8] --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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Cramp \Cramp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cramped} (kr[?]mt; 215); p. pr. & vb. n. {Cramping}.] 1. To compress; to restrain from free action; to confine and contract; to hinder. The mind my be as much cramped by too much knowledge as by ignorance. --Layard. 2. To fasten or hold with, or as with, a cramp. 3. Hence, to bind together; to unite. The . . . fabric of universal justic is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts. --Burke. 4. To form on a cramp; as, to cramp boot legs. 5. To afflict with cramp. When the gout cramps my joints. --Ford. {To cramp the wheels of wagon}, to turn the front wheels out of line with the hind wheels, so that one of them shall be against the body of the wagon.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Cramp \Cramp\, a. [See {Cramp}, n.] Knotty; difficult. [R.] Care being taken not to add any of the cramp reasons for this opinion. --Coleridge.