Definition of Cramp

1. Verb. Secure with a cramp. "Cramp the wood"

Generic synonyms: Fasten, Fix, Secure

2. Noun. A painful and involuntary muscular contraction.

3. Verb. Prevent the progress or free movement of. "The imperialist nation wanted to strangle the free trade between the two small countries"
Exact synonyms: Halter, Hamper, Strangle
Generic synonyms: Bound, Confine, Limit, Restrain, Restrict, Throttle, Trammel
Derivative terms: Hamper

4. Noun. A clamp for holding pieces of wood together while they are glued.
Generic synonyms: Clamp, Clinch

5. Verb. Affect with or as if with a cramp.
Generic synonyms: Affect

6. Noun. A strip of metal with ends bent at right angles; used to hold masonry together.
Exact synonyms: Cramp Iron
Generic synonyms: Slip, Strip

7. Verb. Suffer from sudden painful contraction of a muscle.
Generic synonyms: Get, Have, Suffer, Sustain

Definition of Cramp

1. n. That which confines or contracts; a restraint; a shackle; a hindrance.

2. v. t. To compress; to restrain from free action; to confine and contract; to hinder.

3. a. Knotty; difficult.

4. n. A paralysis of certain muscles due to excessive use; as, writer's cramp; milker's cramp, etc.

Definition of Cramp

1. Noun. A painful contraction of a muscle which cannot be controlled. ¹

2. Noun. A clamp for carpentry or masonry. ¹

3. Verb. (intransitive) (of a muscle) To contract painfully and uncontrollably. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive) To prohibit movement or expression. ¹

5. Verb. (transitive) To restrain to a specific physical position, as if with a cramp. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Cramp

1. to restrain or confine [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Cramp

1. 1. A painful muscle spasm caused by prolonged tetanic contraction. 2. A localised muscle spasm related to occupational use, qualified according to the occupation of the sufferer; e.g., seamstress's cramp, writer's cramp. Origin: M.E. Crampe, fr. O. Fr., fr. Germanic (05 Mar 2000)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Cramp

cramboes
crambos
cramdown
cramdowns
crame
crames
cramesies
cramesy
crammed
crammer
crammers
cramming
cramoisie
cramoisies
cramoisy
cramp (current term)
cramp iron
cramp someone's style
crampbark
cramped
crampedness
crampet
crampets
crampfish
crampfishes
crampier
crampiest
crampiness
cramping
crampit

Literary usage of Cramp

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (1893)
"cramp, a tight restraint, spasmodic contraction. (E.) The verb to cramp is much later than the sb. in English use. ME crampi, a cramp, spasm. ..."

2. Monographic Medicine by William Robie Patten Emerson, Guido Guerrini, William Brown, Wendell Christopher Phillips, John Whitridge Williams, John Appleton Swett, Hans Günther, Mario Mariotti, Hugh Grant Rowell (1916)
"The commonest form is so-called "writer's cramp," but there seem to be almost as many occupation neuroses as there are occupations ..."

3. Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Faiths and Folklore; a by John Brand, William Carew Hazlitt (1905)
"166, speaking of the cramp, adopts the following superstition among the remedies ... The ceremonies of blessing cramp rings on Good Friday will be found in ..."

4. A Glossary; Or, Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to by Robert Nares, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Thomas Wright (1867)
"[There was an ancient office of consecrating cramp-rings, which appears to have been ... Give to thee, Joan Potluck, my bittest cramp riña I, Robert Moth, ..."

5. The Practitioner by Gale Group, ProQuest Information and Learning Company (1889)
"He felt at first a paralysis in the extensors of the ring finger and little finger of each hand, and then a cramp in the opposing muscles which made him ..."

6. An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (1893)
"cramp, a tight restraint, spasmodic contraction. (E.) The verb to cramp is much later than the sb. in English use. ME crampi, a cramp, spasm. ..."

7. Monographic Medicine by William Robie Patten Emerson, Guido Guerrini, William Brown, Wendell Christopher Phillips, John Whitridge Williams, John Appleton Swett, Hans Günther, Mario Mariotti, Hugh Grant Rowell (1916)
"The commonest form is so-called "writer's cramp," but there seem to be almost as many occupation neuroses as there are occupations ..."

8. Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Faiths and Folklore; a by John Brand, William Carew Hazlitt (1905)
"166, speaking of the cramp, adopts the following superstition among the remedies ... The ceremonies of blessing cramp rings on Good Friday will be found in ..."

9. A Glossary; Or, Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to by Robert Nares, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Thomas Wright (1867)
"[There was an ancient office of consecrating cramp-rings, which appears to have been ... Give to thee, Joan Potluck, my bittest cramp riña I, Robert Moth, ..."

10. The Practitioner by Gale Group, ProQuest Information and Learning Company (1889)
"He felt at first a paralysis in the extensors of the ring finger and little finger of each hand, and then a cramp in the opposing muscles which made him ..."

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