cramp

cramp is a Noun

Definition:

[1] That which confines or contracts; a restraint; a shakle; a hindrance. A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind. L`Estrange. Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear. Cowper.

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

[3] A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the jionts of framework, etc.

[4] 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] A spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, as of the leg. The cramp, divers nights, gripeth him in his legs. Sir T. More. Cramp bone, the patella of a sheep; -- formerly used as a charm for the cramp. Halliwell. "He could turn cramp bones into chess men." Dickens. -- Cramp ring, a ring formerly supposed to have virtue in averting or curing cramp, as having been consecrated by one of the kings of England on Good Friday.