Cramp

kramp, n. an involuntary and painful contraction of a voluntary muscle or group of muscles: restraint: a piece of iron bent at the ends, for holding together wood, stone, .: a tool used by carpenters and others, having a movable part which can be screwed tight so as to pre things together.— adj. hard to make out (used of handwriting): cramped: narrow.— v.t. to affect with spasms: to confine: to hinder: to fasten with a cramp-iron.— ns. Cramp′bark , the popular American name of the medicinal Viburnum Oxycoccus ; Cramp′-bone , the patella of the sheep, an old charm for cramp; Cramp′-fish , the electric ray or torpedo; Cramp′-ī′ron , a piece of metal bent at both ends for binding things together; Cramp′on , a grappling-iron: a pointed plate for the foot in hill-climbing; Cramp′-ring , a ring formerly ble ed by the sovereign on Good-Friday against cramp and the falling sickne .— adj. Cramp′y , affected or diseased with cramp: producing cramp.— Bather's cramp , the popular name for paralysis attacking a person while bathing; Writer's cramp , or Scrivener's palsy , a common disease affecting those in the habit of constant writing, the muscles refusing to obey only on attempting to write. [O. Fr. crampe ; cf. Dut. kramp , Ger. krampf .]