cramp
/kɹæmp/
cramp noun: a painful contraction of a muscle which cannot be controlled; (sometimes) a similar pain even without noticeable contraction.
Noun
cramp (countable and uncountable, plural cramps)
- A painful contraction of a muscle which cannot be controlled; (sometimes) a similar pain even without noticeable contraction.
- He retired hurt at 31 due to a leg cramp.
- August 1534, Margaret Roper (or Thomas More in her name), letter to Alice Alington
the cramp also that divers nights gripeth him in his legs.
- That which confines or contracts.
- A narrow Fortune is undoubtedly a Cramp to a great Mind.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC
- How does it grate upon his thankleſs ear, / Crippling his pleaſures with the cramp of fear!1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 96
- A clamp for carpentry or masonry.
- 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.
Verb
cramp (third-person singular simple present cramps, present participle cramping, simple past and past participle cramped)
- (of a muscle) To contract painfully and uncontrollably.
- To affect with cramps or spasms.
- The collar of the tunic scratched my neck, the steel helmet made my head ache, and the puttees cramped my leg muscles.1936, Heinrich Hauser, Once Your Enemy (translated from the German by Norman Gullick)
- To prohibit movement or expression of.
- You're cramping my style.
- But the front of the animal , which was in full , was narrow and cramped , and unequal in dignity to the side1853, Austen Henry Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon
- To restrain to a specific physical position, as if with a cramp.
- You're going to need to cramp the wheels on this hill.
- when the gout cramps my joints1633, John Ford, Perkin Warbeck
- To fasten or hold with, or as if with, a cramp iron.
- To bind together; to unite.
- The […] fabric of universal justice is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts.1780, Edmund Burke, Principles in Politics
- To form on a cramp.
- to cramp boot legs
Adjective
cramp (comparative more cramp, superlative most cramp)
Proper noun capitalized: Cramp
Cramp (plural Cramps)
- A surname.
cramp meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
cramp in Hindi
- cramp
- अँकड़ाहट ãkṛāhaṭ
cramp in Tamil
- தசைப்பிடிப்பு, சுளுக்கு, பிடிப்பு, பற்றிணைப்பு, பிணைப்புக்கருவி, தடைநிலை
cramp in Urdu
- اینٹھن
cramp in Bengali
- cramp
- খাল khal
More languagesFewer languages
- cramp in Telugu
- తిమ్మిరి timmiri
- cramp in Malayalam
- മാംസപേശിയുടെ വലി, സങ്കോചം, സന്ധിവേദന, ഞരമ്പുവേദന
- cramp in Kannada
- ಸೆಡೆತ, ಸೆಳೆತ, ಬೆರೆಪು, ಬೆಱೆಪು
- cramp in Tagalog
- pulikat
- cramp in Arabic
- تَشَنُّج tašannuj, شَدٌّ عَضَلِيّ šaddun ʕaḍaliyy
- cramp in Malay
- kejangan, mengejang
- cramp in Indonesian
- keram, kejang
- cramp in Thai
- ตะคริว dtà-kriu
- cramp in Vietnamese
- chuột rút, vọp bẻ
Examples of cramp in a sentence
- We looked over the house; downstairs was spacious, but upstairs really cramped.
- I dislike the cramped hanging in the gallery of 18th century painters.
- I don't want my Mum to go to the party: she'd really cramp my style.
Synonyms of cramp
Forms of cramp
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | cramps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | cramps |
| present participle | cramping |
| past participle | cramped |
| past | cramped |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more cramp |
| superlative | most cramp |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Cramps |
Origin of cramp
From Middle English crampe, from Old French crampe (“cramp”), from Frankish *krampa (“cramp”), from Proto-West Germanic *krampu, from Proto-Germanic *krampō (“cramp, clasp”). Distant relative of English crop.
Words formed from cramp
Phrases with cramp
Words that rhyme with cramp
Questions about cramp
- What does cramp mean?
- Cramp means a painful contraction of a muscle which cannot be controlled; (sometimes) a similar pain even without noticeable contraction.
- What is cramp in Hindi?
- Cramp in Hindi is अँकड़ाहट (ãkṛāhaṭ). See Cramp meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is cramp?
- Cramp can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce cramp?
- Cramp is pronounced /kɹæmp/.
- What is the plural of cramp?
- The plural of cramp is cramps.
Words near cramp in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cramp (page history and authors); Cramp (page history and authors); अँकड़ाहट (Hindi) (page history and authors); cramp (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cramp (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); খাল (Bengali) (page history and authors); తిమ్మిరి (Telugu) (page history and authors); cramp (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cramp (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cramp.wav.
Cite this entry: “cramp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cramp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.