cramp

See also: Cramp

English

Etymology

From Middle English crampe, from Old French crampe (“cramp”), from Frankish *krampa (“cramp”), from Proto-Germanic *krampō (“cramp, clasp”). Distant relative of English crop.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kɹæmp/
- Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -æmp

Noun

cramp (countable and uncountable, plural cramps)

A painful contraction of a muscle which cannot be controlled.
- 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.
Synonyms: restraint, shackle, hindrance
- 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 228727523:
  A narrow Fortune is undoubtedly a Cramp to a great Mind.
- 1782, William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], OCLC 1029672464, page 96:
  How does it grate upon his thankleſs ear, / Crippling his pleaſures with the cramp of fear!
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.

Derived terms

bather's cramp
brain cramp
cramp balls (Daldinia concentrica)
cramp bone
cramp iron
crampish
cramp ring
crampy
wanker's cramp
writer's cramp

Translations

painful contraction of a muscle

Albanian: ngërth (sq) m
Arabic: تَشَنُّج‎ m (tašannuj)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: сутарга f (sutarha), спазма f (spazma)
Bulgarian: схващане (bg) n (shvaštane), спазъм (bg) m (spazǎm)
Catalan: rampa (ca) f
Chinese:
Chinese:
Cantonese: 抽筋 (cau¹ gan¹)
Mandarin: 抽筋(兒)／抽筋(儿) (zh) (chōujīn[r])
Czech: křeč (cs) f
Dutch: kramp (nl) m
Esperanto: kramfo
Finnish: kramppi (fi), lihaskramppi (fi), suonenveto (fi), kouristus (fi)
French: crampe (fr) f
Galician: cambra f, breca (gl) f
German: Krampf (de) m
Greek: κράμπα (el) f (krámpa)
Hungarian: görcs (hu)
Indonesian: keram (id), kejang (id)
Irish: féith-chrapadh m
Italian: crampo (it) m
Japanese: 痙攣 (ja) (keiren)
Kabuverdianu: kaiambra
Korean: 쥐 (ko) (jwi)
Latin: pnix f
Malay: kejangan
Maori: kuiki, kaurapa (specific to the legs), hakoko, uauawhiti, parerori, uhu, kohukohu, kokohu
Mapudungun: trekefün
Norwegian:
Bokmål: krampe (no) m
Nynorsk: krampe m
Plautdietsch: Kraump f
Polish: skurcz (pl) m
Portuguese: cãibra (pt)
Romanian: crampă (ro) f, cârcel (ro) m
Russian: спазм (ru) m (spazm), су́дорога (ru) f (súdoroga)
Serbo-Croatian: spazam, grč (sh) m
Slovak: kŕč m
Slovene: krč (sl) m
Spanish: calambre (es) m, rampa (es) f
Swedish: kramp (sv) c
Thai: ตะคริว (dtà-kriu)
Turkish: kramp (tr)
Ukrainian: судо́ма (uk) f (sudóma)
Venetian: sgranfo (vec) m, sgranf m
Vietnamese: chuột rút (vi), vọp bẻ (vi)

restraint, hindrance

Finnish: rajoite (fi), este (fi)

clamp for carpentry or masonry — see clamp

piece of wood used to shape boot

Finnish: lesti (fi)
Galician: forma (gl) f, encospia f, encorpia f
Italian: forma (it) f, calco (it) m, stampo (it) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Albanian: ^{(please verify)} ngërç (sq) m, ^{(please verify)} spazmë (sq) f
French: ^{(please verify)} crampe (fr) f
Ido: ^{(please verify)} krampo (io)
Romanian: ^{(please verify)} spasm (ro) f or m, ^{(please verify)} cârcel (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} crampe pl

Verb

cramp (third-person singular simple present cramps, present participle cramping, simple past and past participle cramped)

(intransitive) (of a muscle) To contract painfully and uncontrollably.
(transitive) To affect with cramps or spasms.
- 1936, Heinrich Hauser, Once Your Enemy (translated from the German by Norman Gullick)
  The collar of the tunic scratched my neck, the steel helmet made my head ache, and the puttees cramped my leg muscles.
(transitive, figurative) To prohibit movement or expression of.
You're cramping my style.
- 1853, Austen Henry Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon
  But the front of the animal , which was in full , was narrow and cramped , and unequal in dignity to the side
(transitive) To restrain to a specific physical position, as if with a cramp.
You're going to need to cramp the wheels on this hill.
- 1633, John Ford, Perkin Warbeck
  when the gout cramps my joints
To fasten or hold with, or as if with, a cramp iron.
(by extension) To bind together; to unite.
- 1780, Edmund Burke, Principles in Politics
  The […] fabric of universal justice is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts.
To form on a cramp.
to cramp boot legs

Derived terms

cramp someone's style

Translations

to contract painfully and uncontrollably

Bulgarian: схващам се (shvaštam se), парализирам (bg) (paraliziram)
Finnish: kouristaa, krampata, vetää suonta
German: krampfen (de)
Hungarian: görcsöl (hu)
Indonesian: keram (id), kejang (id)
Italian: paralizzare (it), contrarre (it)
Malay: mengejang
Maori: parerori, hui
Mongolian: татах (mn) (tatax)
Romanian: se crispa
Russian: своди́ть (ru) (svodítʹ) судорогой (ru) f (sudorogoj)
Serbo-Croatian: grčiti se (sh)
Spanish: acalambrarse
Ukrainian: зводити impf (zvodyty), звести pf (zvesty)

to prohibit movement or expression

Bulgarian: спъвам (bg) (spǎvam), преча (bg) (preča)
Finnish: rajoittaa (fi)
Hungarian: bénít (hu), gátol (hu)
Italian: paralizzare (it), inibire (it), bloccare (it), atrofizzare (it)
Russian: стеснять (ru) (stesnjatʹ), ограни́чивать (ru) (ograníčivatʹ)
Spanish: coartar (es)

to restrain to a specific physical position

Bulgarian: хващам със скоба (hvaštam sǎs skoba)
Finnish: lukita (fi)
Italian: limitare (it)
Russian: фикси́ровать (ru) (fiksírovatʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: ukočiti (sh)
Spanish: inmovilizar (es)

Adjective

cramp (comparative more cramp, superlative most cramp)

(archaic) cramped; narrow
- 1871, David Masson, The Life of John Milton:
  […] the result was those folio volumes of MSS. now in the British Museum, in which inquirers into the history of that period find so much interesting material in such a confused state and in such a dreadfully cramp handwriting.

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “cramp”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
cramp at OneLook Dictionary Search

Manx

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

cramp

intricate, complex

Derived terms

neuchramp

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cramp	chramp	gramp
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.