Cramp

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.]