cramp

Meanings

Noun

• A painful contraction of a muscle which cannot be controlled.
• That which confines or contracts.
• A clamp for carpentry or masonry.
• 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.

Verb

• (of a muscle) To contract painfully and uncontrollably.
• To affect with cramps or spasms.
• To prohibit movement or expression of.
• To restrain to a specific physical position, as if with a cramp.
• To fasten or hold with, or as if with, a cramp iron.
• To bind together; to unite.
• To form on a cramp.

Adjective

• cramped; narrow

Origin

• From Middle English crampe, from Old French crampe, from Frankish *krampa ("cramp"), from Proto-Germanic *krampō. Distant relative of English crop.