cramp, crampe

& a. [O. H. Ger. chrampho; Old Fr. crampe; Sw. kramp; Dan. krampe.] [CLAMP.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. Lit .: In the same sense as II. 1. 2. Fig .: A restraint, a hinderance, a restriction, a shackle. "How does it grate upon his thankle ear, Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear!' Couper: Trut pine, pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, pot, II. Technically : 3. Carpentry: B. As adj .: Difficult, knotty, obscure, crabbed. cramp-bark, s. The popular name given in the modic plant. cramp-iron, 8. Give to thee, Joan Potluck, my biggest cramp ring." Ordinary (O. Pl.), x. 250. cramp-stone, s. A stone carried about as a pre- servative against cramp. Such stones are said to have been first used about the middle of the eleventh century. "A cramp-stone, as I take it, Were very useful." Mas singer: The Picture, v. 1. crămp, v. t. [CRAMP, 8.] I. Literally: 1. To affect with cramp. "When the contracted limbs were cramp'd ." Dryden: Virgil. 2. To bind, fasten, or confine with cramp-irons. II. Figuratively : 1. To confine, to narrow down. "There shall each poet share and trim, Stretch, cramp , or lop the verse's limb." Cowper : An Ode; Secundum Artem , 1. 2. To hinder or restrain in growth, progre , or action. "He who serves has still restraints of dread upon his spirits, which, even in the midst of action, cramps and ties up his activity." -South : Sermons. 3. To bind or unite together. "The diversified but connected fabric of universal justice is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts..."-Burke; Speech at Bristol (1780). crămped, pa. par. or a. [CRAMP, v.] crămp-ern, s. [Eng. cramp, and iron.] The same as CRAMP, 8., II. 2 (q. v.), and CRAMP-IRON (q. v.). crămp-Ing, pr. par., a. & 8. [CRAMP, v.] A. & B. As pr. par. & particip. adj.: (See the verb.) C. As subst.: The act of fastening or holding with cramp-irons. *crămp-ish, *craumpy he, v . t . [Eng. cramp.] To cramp, to contract. cramp is heth her limmes crokedly." Chaucer: Queen Anelida , 174. "She IMG:content-1238.png:[blocks in formation] crampaid.] 2. An iron made to fit the sole of the shoe, with small spikes in it, for keeping the foot firm on ice or slippery ground. "With crampets on our feet, and clubs in hand." Muses' Threnodie, p. 149. anything. 5. The iron guard at the end of a staff. crămp-on, cramp-pôon', s. [Fr. crampon .] 1. Bot .: An adventitious root, serving as a fulcrum or support. p. 7. IMG:content-1239.png:[blocks in formation] I. Singular : 1. ( Of the form cranberry): A plant, Vaccinium oxycoccos, having also the book-name of the Marsh Whortleberry. It has a filiform stem, ovate evergreen leaves, glaucous beneath, their margin revolute and entire; a terminal single-flowered peduncle, a four-parted revolute corolla, and a berry of a bright roseate hue. It is found in bogs. The berries are used for preserves and pies. The deeply. divided revolute segments of the corolla have led Richard and other botanists to separate the species from Vaccinium and call it Oxycoccos palustris. (1) American Cranberry: Vaccinium macro car pum , or Oxycoccos macro carpus or macrocarpa . It is found through a great part of North America. The berries are largely exported. (2) Tasmanian Cranberry : An epacrid ( Astroloma humifusum ). It has scarlet blo oms and a green, whitish, or slightly reddish fruit, about the size of a currant; this consists of a viscid, apple-flavored pulp, inclosing a large seed. II. Pl . ( Cranberries ): Bot.: The name given by Lindley to the order Vacciniaceae (q. v.). cranberry-gatherer, s. An implement shaped like a rake, and adapted to catch below the berries on the stalk, and collect them in a bag or box at- tached to the rake-head. 2. Fabric : Probably some stuff made of hair. ". but she can cranch A sack of small coal B. Jonson: Magn. Lady. *crănck, *crănk, a . [CRANK, a .] Lively, active, spirited.