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Webster 1913 Edition


Cripple

Crip′ple

(krĭp′p’l)
,
Noun.
[OE.
cripel
,
crepel
,
crupel
, AS.
crypel
(akin to D.
kreuple
, G.
krüppel
, Dan.
kröbling
, Icel.
kryppill
), prop., one that can not walk, but must creep, fr. AS.
creópan
to creep. See
Creep
.]
One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one who is partially disabled.
I am a
cripple
in my limbs; but what decays are in my mind, the reader must determine.
Dryden.

Crip′ple

(krĭp′p’l)
,
Adj.
Lame; halting.
[R.]
“The cripple, tardy-gaited night.”
Shak.

Crip′ple

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Crippled
(-p’ld)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Crippling
(-pl?ng)
.]
1.
To deprive of the use of a limb, particularly of a leg or foot; to lame.
He had
crippled
the joints of the noble child.
Sir W. Scott.
2.
To deprive of strength, activity, or capability for service or use; to disable; to deprive of resources;
as, to be financially
crippled
.
More serious embarrassments . . . were
crippling
the energy of the settlement in the Bay.
Palfrey.
An incumbrance which would permanently
cripple
the body politic.
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition


Cripple

CRIPPLE

,
Noun.
[G.] A lame person; primarily, one who creeps, halts or limps; one who has lost, or never enjoyed the use of his limbs. Acts 14.
The word may signify one who is partially or totally disabled from using his limbs.
See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing.

CRIPPLE

,
Adj.
Lame.

CRIPPLE

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To lame; to deprive of the use of the limbs, particularly of the legs and feet.
2.
To disable; to deprive of the power of exertion. We say, a fleet was crippled in the engagement.

Definition 2024


cripple

cripple

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

cripple (comparative more cripple, superlative most cripple)

  1. Crippled.
    • 1599William Shakespeare, Henry V, iv 1
      And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night, who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp so tediously away.

Translations

Noun

cripple (plural cripples)

  1. (often offensive) a person who has severely impaired physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or amputation of parts of the body.
    He returned from war a cripple.
    • Dryden
      I am a cripple in my limbs; but what decays are in my mind, the reader must determine.
  2. A shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or above and below a window.
  3. (dialect, Southern US except Louisiana) scrapple.
  4. (among lumbermen) A rocky shallow in a stream.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

cripple (third-person singular simple present cripples, present participle crippling, simple past and past participle crippled)

  1. to make someone a cripple; to cause someone to get a physical disability
    The car bomb crippled five passers-by.
  2. (figuratively) to damage seriously; to destroy
    My ambitions were crippled by a lack of money.
  3. to release a product (especially a computer program) with reduced functionality, in some cases, making the item essentially worthless.
    The word processor was released in a crippled demonstration version that did not allow you to save.

Translations

See also

Anagrams