English

Crutch

Noun

crutch ‎(plural crutches)

1. A device to assist in motion as a cane, especially one that provides support under the arm to reduce weight on a leg.

   He walked on crutches for a month until the cast was removed from his leg.

   • Shakespeare

     I'll lean upon one crutch, and fight with the other.

2. Something that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthful dependency; a prop

   Alcohol became a crutch to help him through the long nights; eventually it killed him.

   • H. Smith

     Rhyme is a crutch that lifts the weak alone.

3. A crotch; the area of body where the legs fork from the trunk.
4. A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.
5. (nautical) A knee, or piece of knee timber.
6. (nautical) A forked stanchion or post; a crotch.

Translations

Verb

crutch ‎(third-person singular simple present crutches, present participle crutching, simple past and past participle crutched)

1. (transitive) To support on crutches; to prop up.
   • Two fools that crutch their feeble sense on verse. — Dryden.
2. (transitive) To shear the hindquarters of a sheep; to dag.
   • After learning how to crutch at 13, he could dag 400 sheep in a day by the spring of 1965 and earned himself more than just a bit of pocket money. — 2010 January 29, Emma Partridge, Stock Journal, Richie Foster a cut above the rest,