crambo

[ kram-boh ]

/ ˈkræm boʊ /

noun, plural cram·boes.

a game in which one person or side must find a rhyme to a word or a line of verse given by another.

inferior rhyme.

Nearby words

cram, cram course, cram school, cram, ralph adams, cram-full, crambo, cramer's rule, crammed, crammer, cramoisy, cramp

Origin of crambo

1600–10; earlier crambe < Latin crambē repetīta phrase used by Juvenal in reference to unimaginative writing, literally, repeated (i.e., re-served) cabbage (< Greek krambē kind of cabbage)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for crambo

Crambo, kram′bo, n. a game in which one gives a word to which another finds a rhyme: rime.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)|Various
Crabbe says, "Crambo is a play, in rhyming, in which he that repeats a word that was said before forfeits something."
Notes and Queries, Number 81, May 17, 1851|Various
Sir Guy nearly died of Crambo, and was very near taking a Dictionary with him the next time.
Miss Eden's Letters|Emily Eden
Mary says in her second letter: We had a tremendous fit of Crambo again last night from eight to eleven without stopping.
Miss Eden's Letters|Emily Eden

Query, What is the meaning of crambo here, and is it to be met with elsewhere with a similar meaning?
Notes and Queries, Number 81, May 17, 1851|Various

British Dictionary definitions for crambo

crambo

/ (ˈkræmbəʊ) /

noun

a word game in which one team says a rhyme or rhyming line for a word or line given by the other team

Word Origin for crambo

C17: from earlier crambe, probably from Latin crambē repetīta cabbage repeated, hence an old story, a rhyming game, from Greek krambē

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012