What does cramp mean?

Definitions for cramp
kræmpcramp

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word cramp.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. spasm, cramp, muscle spasmnoun

    a painful and involuntary muscular contraction

  2. crampnoun

    a clamp for holding pieces of wood together while they are glued

  3. cramp, cramp ironverb

    a strip of metal with ends bent at right angles; used to hold masonry together

  4. crampverb

    secure with a cramp

    "cramp the wood"

  5. hamper, halter, cramp, strangleverb

    prevent the progress or free movement of

    "He was hampered in his efforts by the bad weather"; "the imperialist nation wanted to strangle the free trade between the two small countries"

  6. crampverb

    affect with or as if with a cramp

  7. crampverb

    suffer from sudden painful contraction of a muscle

Wiktionary

  1. crampnoun

    A painful contraction of a muscle which cannot be controlled.

  2. crampnoun

    A clamp for carpentry or masonry.

  3. crampverb

    To prohibit movement or expression.

    You're cramping my style.

  4. crampverb

    (of a muscle) To contract painfully and uncontrollably.

    You're cramping my style.

  5. crampverb

    To restrain to a specific physical position, as if with a cramp.

    You're going to need to cramp the wheels on this hill.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Crampadjective

    Difficult; knotty: a low term.

  2. CRAMPnoun

    Etymology: krampe, Dut. crampe, French.

    For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramp,
    Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up. William Shakespeare, Tempest.

    In a retreat, he outruns any lacquey; marry, in coming on, he has the cramp. William Shakespeare, All’s well that ends well.

    The cramp, no doubt, cometh of contraction of sinews; which is manifest, in that it cometh either by cold or dryness. Francis Bacon, Natural History, №. 964.

    Hares, said to live on hemlock, do not make good the tradition; and he that observes what vertigoes, cramps, and convulsions follow thereon, in these animals, will be of our belief. Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errours, b. iii. c. 27.

    A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind, and lays a man under incapacities of serving his friend. Roger L'Estrange.

    To the uppermost of these there should be fastened a sharp graple, or cramp of iron, which may be apt to take hold of any place where it lights. John Wilkins, Mathem. Magick.

  3. To Crampverb

    Etymology: from the noun.

    When the contracted limbs were cramp’d, ev’n then
    A wat’rish humour swell’d, and ooz’d again. John Dryden, Virgil.

    It is impossible to conceive the number of inconveniences that will ensue, if borrowing be cramped. Francis Bacon, Essay 42.

    There are few but find that some companies benumb and cramp them, so that in them they can neither speak nor do any thing that is handsome. Joseph Glanvill, Sceps. c. 24.

    He, who serves, has still restraints of dread upon his spirits, which, even in the midst of action, cramps and ties up his activity. Robert South, Sermons.

    Dr. Hammond loves to contract and cramp the sense of prophecies. Thomas Burnet, Theory of the Earth.

    The antiquaries are for cramping their subjects into as narrow a space as they can, and for reducing the whole extent of a science into a few general maxims. Joseph Addison, on Italy.

    Marius used all endeavours for depressing the nobles, and raising the people; particularly for cramping the former in their power of judicature. Jonathan Swift, on the Dissent. in Ath. and Rome.

    No more
    Th’ expansive atmosphere is cramp’d with cold,
    But full of life, and vivifying soul. James Thomson, Spring.

Wikipedia

  1. Cramp

    A cramp is a sudden, involuntary, painful skeletal muscle contraction or overshortening associated with electrical activity; while generally temporary and non-damaging, they can cause significant pain and a paralysis-like immobility of the affected muscle. A cramp usually goes away on its own over a period of several seconds, or minutes. Cramps are common and tend to occur at rest, usually at night (nocturnal leg cramps). They are also often associated with pregnancy, physical exercise or overexertion, age (common in older adults), in such cases, cramps are called idiopathic, because there is no underlying pathology. In addition to those benign conditions cramps are also associated with many pathologic conditions.Skeletal muscle cramps may be caused by muscle fatigue or a lack of electrolytes such as sodium (a condition called hyponatremia), potassium (called hypokalemia), or magnesium (called hypomagnesemia). Some skeletal muscle cramps do not have a known cause. Motor neuron disorders (e.g., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), metabolic disorders (e.g., liver failure), some medications (e.g., diuretics and inhaled beta‐agonists), and haemodialysis may also cause muscle cramps.Cramp definition is narrower than the definition of muscle spasm: spasms include any involuntary abnormal muscle contractions, while cramps are sustained and painful. True cramps can be distinguished from other cramp-like conditions. Cramps are different from muscle contracture, which is also painful and involuntary, but which is electrically silent. The main distinguishing features of cramps from dystonia are suddenness with acute onset of pain, involvement of only one muscle and spontaneous resolution of cramps or their resolution after stretching the affected muscle. Restless leg syndrome is not considered the same as muscle cramps and should not be confused with rest cramps.

ChatGPT

  1. cramp

    A cramp is a sudden, involuntary muscle contraction or over-shortening that can cause mild-to-severe pain. It often occurs in the legs or feet and may last from a few seconds to several minutes. It is usually caused by muscle fatigue, dehydration, or lack of essential elements such as potassium or calcium in the body.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Crampnoun

    that which confines or contracts; a restraint; a shackle; a hindrance

  2. Crampnoun

    a device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron

  3. Crampnoun

    a rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the joints of framework, etc

  4. Crampnoun

    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

  5. Crampnoun

    a spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, as of the leg

  6. Crampverb

    to compress; to restrain from free action; to confine and contract; to hinder

  7. Crampverb

    to fasten or hold with, or as with, a cramp

  8. Crampverb

    to bind together; to unite

  9. Crampverb

    to form on a cramp; as, to cramp boot legs

  10. Crampverb

    to afflict with cramp

  11. Crampnoun

    knotty; difficult

  12. Etymology: [See Cramp, n.]

Wikidata

  1. Cramp

    Cramps are unpleasant, often painful sensations caused by muscle contraction or overshortening. Common causes of skeletal muscle cramps may include muscle fatigue, low sodium, low potassium, and/or low magnesium. Smooth muscle cramps may be due to menstruation or gastroenteritis.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. 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, &c.: a tool used by carpenters and others, having a movable part which can be screwed tight so as to press 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 blessed by the sovereign on Good-Friday against cramp and the falling sickness.—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.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. cramp

    A machine to facilitate the screwing of two pieces of timber together.

Suggested Resources

  1. cramp

    The cramp symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the cramp symbol and its characteristic.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. CRAMP

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Cramp is ranked #55505 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Cramp surname appeared 370 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Cramp.

    88.6% or 328 total occurrences were White.
    5.4% or 20 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    2.1% or 8 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    1.8% or 7 total occurrences were Black.

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of cramp in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of cramp in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of cramp in a Sentence

  1. Inigo DeLeon:

    The cure for writer's cramp is writer's block.

  2. The Orchard -RRB- Young:

    After a terrible flight, I had what I thought was a bad back cramp, he’s like, ‘Get on the ground. I know how to handle cramps. Don’t worry.’ He puts his knuckle on my ribs, and all of a sudden, whatever pain I had moved over to the other side of my body. So then he goes, ‘Let’s go to the hospital.’ It ends up being a blood clot. So Bob Saget saved my life. But he almost nearly killed me by sending it to the other side of my lung when he put his knuckle in it.

  3. Søren Kierkegaard, Journal, july 6., 1838:

    Fixed ideas are like a cramp in the foot - the best remedy against it is to tread on it.

  4. Haraldur Thorleifsson:

    I’m not able to do manual work (which in this case means typing or using a mouse) for extended periods of time without my hands starting to cramp, i can however write for an hour or two at a time. This wasn’t a problem in Twitter 1.0 since I was a senior director and my job was mostly to help teams move forward, give them strategic and tactical advice.

  5. Terry Francona:

    The last thing we want to do is let somebody take a big swing and it’s more than a cramp.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

cramp#10000#44779#100000

Translations for cramp

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • спазъм, преча, схващам се, скоба, схващане, хващам със скоба, спъвам, парализирам, закопчалкаBulgarian
  • křečCzech
  • Krampf, krampfen, KlammerGerman
  • μέγγενηGreek
  • kramfoEsperanto
  • sargento, acalambrarse, inmovilizar, calambreSpanish
  • vetää suonta, kramppi, lihaskramppi, kouristus, lukita, puristin, rajoittaa, kouristaa, suonenveto, krampataFinnish
  • crampeFrench
  • görcsöl, görcs, gátol, bénítHungarian
  • kuiki, kaurapa, hakoko, uauawhitiMāori
  • mengejang, kejanganMalay
  • krampeNorwegian
  • krampDutch
  • krampeNorwegian Nynorsk
  • krampeNorwegian
  • cãibraPortuguese
  • зажим, судорога, сводить, фиксировать, ограничивать, стеснять, спазмRussian
  • ukočiti, grčiti se, grč, spazamSerbo-Croatian
  • kŕčSlovak
  • krampSwedish

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"cramp." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/cramp>.

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