From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
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A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind.
--L'Estrange.
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Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear.
--Cowper.
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2. (Masonry) A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used
to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp
iron.
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3. (Carp.) A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used
for compressing the joints of framework, etc.
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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.
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5. (Med.) A spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of
a muscle or muscles, as of the leg.
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The cramp, divers nights, gripeth him in his legs.
--Sir T. More.
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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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
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The mind my be as much cramped by too much knowledge
as by ignorance. --Layard.
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2. To fasten or hold with, or as with, a cramp.
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3. Hence, to bind together; to unite.
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The . . . fabric of universal justic is well cramped
and bolted together in all its parts. --Burke.
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4. To form on a cramp; as, to cramp boot legs.
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5. To afflict with cramp.
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When the gout cramps my joints. --Ford.
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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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Cramp \Cramp\, a. [See Cramp, n.]
Knotty; difficult. [R.]
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Care being taken not to add any of the cramp reasons
for this opinion. --Coleridge.
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