'Cramp' definitions:

Definition of 'cramp'

(from WordNet)
noun
A painful and involuntary muscular contraction [syn: spasm, cramp, muscle spasm]
noun
A clamp for holding pieces of wood together while they are glued
noun
A strip of metal with ends bent at right angles; used to hold masonry together [syn: cramp, cramp iron]
verb
Secure with a cramp; "cramp the wood"
verb
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" [syn: hamper, halter, cramp, strangle]
verb
Affect with or as if with a cramp
verb
Suffer from sudden painful contraction of a muscle

Definition of 'Cramp'

From: GCIDE
  • Cramp \Cramp\ (kr[a^]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. [1913 Webster]
  • A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster]
  • Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. (Masonry) A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. (Carp.) A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the joints of framework, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. (Med.) A spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, as of the leg. [1913 Webster]
  • The cramp, divers nights, gripeth him in his legs. --Sir T. More. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. (Med.) A paralysis of certain muscles due to excessive use; as, writer's cramp; milker's cramp, etc. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Cramp'

From: GCIDE
  • Cramp \Cramp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cramped (kr[a^]mt; 215); p. pr. & vb. n. Cramping.]
  • 1. To compress; to restrain from free action; to confine and contract; to hinder. [1913 Webster]
  • The mind my be as much cramped by too much knowledge as by ignorance. --Layard. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To fasten or hold with, or as with, a cramp. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Hence, to bind together; to unite. [1913 Webster]
  • The . . . fabric of universal justic is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To form on a cramp; as, to cramp boot legs. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To afflict with cramp. [1913 Webster]
  • When the gout cramps my joints. --Ford. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Cramp'

From: GCIDE
  • Cramp \Cramp\, a. [See Cramp, n.] Knotty; difficult. [R.] [1913 Webster]
  • Care being taken not to add any of the cramp reasons for this opinion. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'cramp'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Cramp'