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View synonyms for cramp

cramp

1

[ kramp ]

noun

  1. Often cramps.
    1. a sudden, involuntary, spasmodic contraction of a muscle or group of muscles, especially of the extremities, sometimes with severe pain.
    2. a piercing pain in the abdomen.
    3. an intermittent, painful contraction of structures of a wall containing involuntary muscle, as in biliary colic or in the uterine contractions of menstruation or of labor.


verb (used with object)

  1. to affect with or as if with a cramp.

cramp

2

[ kramp ]

noun

  1. a portable frame or tool with a movable part that can be screwed up to hold things together; clamp.
  2. anything that confines or restrains.
  3. a cramped state or part.

verb (used with object)

  1. to fasten or hold with a cramp.
  2. to confine narrowly; restrict; restrain; hamper.
  3. to turn (the front wheels of a motor vehicle) by means of the steering gear; steer.

adjective

cramp

1

/ kræmp /

noun

  1. Also calledcramp iron a strip of metal with its ends bent at right angles, used to bind masonry
  2. a device for holding pieces of wood while they are glued; clamp
  3. something that confines or restricts
  4. a confined state or position
“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


verb

  1. to secure or hold with a cramp
  2. to confine, hamper, or restrict
  3. cramp someone's style informal.
    to prevent a person from using his abilities or acting freely and confidently
“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

cramp

2

/ kræmp /

noun

  1. a painful involuntary contraction of a muscle, typically caused by overexertion, heat, or chill
  2. temporary partial paralysis of a muscle group

    writer's cramp

  3. usually plural in the US and Canada severe abdominal pain
“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

verb

  1. tr to affect with or as if with a cramp
“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
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Other Words From

  • cramping·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cramp1

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English crampe, from Old French, from Germanic; cognate with Middle Dutch crampe, Old Saxon krampo, Old High German krampfo; derivative of an adjective meaning “narrow, constrained, bent”; compare Old High German krampf, Old Norse krappr; akin to crimp 1

Origin of cramp2

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English crampe, crompe, from Middle Dutch; cramp 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cramp1

C15: from Middle Dutch crampe cramp, hook, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German khramph bent; see cramp 1

Origin of cramp2

C14: from Old French crampe, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German krampho
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. cramp one's style, Informal. to prevent one from showing one's best abilities.
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Example Sentences

The residents of Çatalhöyük appear to have copied the cramped passages of natural caves.

Instead, a rival theory blaming cramps on “altered neuromuscular control” first proposed in the 1990s by Martin Schwellnus, a sports physician at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, has been gaining support.

Schwellnus himself warned that muscle cramps are a complex phenomenon with many different contributing factors, so we shouldn’t expect a simple solution.

What we’re left with is a search for factors we can control that might influence cramp risk.

This punctures the idea that cramps are a punishment for bad pacing.

Cast: Tyler Christopher, Isabella Cramp, Jami Gertz, Tim Jo, Toks Olagundoye, Simon Templeman, Lenny Venito.

If Prince Harry is back on again with Chelsy Davy, he's not letting it cramp his style.

Madame Ratignolle begged Robert to accompany her to the house; she complained of cramp in her limbs and stiffness of the joints.

Jack nodded with a strange, twisted little smile, as if he were suffering from cramp in the legs.

“Ah, my dear, you careless young people make jokes of things that would fret us old ones to fiddle-strings,” reproved Mrs. Cramp.

The darkness and chill began to tell upon me, and an agonising cramp contracted my legs.

When the cramp left me, I cast myself off again, and dropped below the ledge.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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