writer's cramp

American  

noun

1. spasmodic, painful contractions of the muscles of the thumb, forefinger, and forearm during writing.

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writer's cramp British  

noun

1. a muscular spasm or temporary paralysis of the muscles of the thumb and first two fingers caused by prolonged writing

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Example Sentences

Quizzed further, Humorist Cobb refuted both reports, swore he had never had writer's cramp.

From Time Magazine Archive

There he might choose a Macfadden diet-&-exercise cure which is supposed to correct 150 human miseries, including acidosis, alcoholism, apoplexy, gout, impotence, lowered vitality, masturbation, ptomaine poisoning, sleepwalking, sterility and writer's cramp.

From Time Magazine Archive

When his writer's cramp gets too bad, hearings are limited to two hours a day, and Alfred de Marigny fills in the time in his cell, he has told Nancy, composing poems to the mosquitoes.

From Time Magazine Archive

In Amersham, England, the city magistrate court was forced to adjourn temporarily when Court Clerk A. Ferguson got writer's cramp.

From Time Magazine Archive

The tongue rests and the curve of writer's cramp takes a sharp turn upward, as if we were making scribes, reporters, and proof-readers.

From Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene by Hall, G. Stanley