Part 2540

<hw>Cram"mer</hw> <tt>(kr?m"m?r)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>One who crams; esp., one who prepares a pupil hastily for an exxamination, or a pupil who is thus prepared.</def>

<i>Dickens.</i>

<h1>Cramoisie Cramoisy</h1> <Xpage=339>

<hw><hw>Cra*moi"sie</hw> <hw>Cra*moi"sy</hw><hw> <tt>(kr?-moi"z?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[F. <ets>cramoisi</ets> crimson. See <er>Crimson</er>.]</ety> <def>Crimson.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>A splendid seignior, magnificent in <b>cramoisy</b> velevet. <i>Motley.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Cramp</h1> <Xpage=339>

<hw>Cramp</hw> <tt>(kr?mp)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[OE. <ets>crampe</ets>, <ets>craumpe</ets>; akin to D. & Sw. <ets>kramp</ets>, Dan. <ets>krampe</ets>, G. <ets>krampf</ets> (whence F. <ets>crampe</ets>), Icel. <ets>krappr</ets> strait, narrow, and to E. <ets>crimp</ets>, <ets>crumple</ets>; cf. <ets>cram</ets>. See <er>Grape</er>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>That which confines or contracts; a restraint; a shakle; a hindrance.</def>

<blockquote>A narrow fortune is a <b>cramp</b> to a great mind. <i>L'Estrange.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Crippling his pleasures with the <b>cramp</b> of fear. <i>Cowper.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Masonry)</fld> <def>A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron.</def>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Carp.)</fld> <def>A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the jionts of framework, etc.</def>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>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.</def>

<p><b>5.</b> <fld>(Med.)</fld> <def>A spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, as of the leg.</def>

<blockquote>The <b>cramp</b>, divers nights, gripeth him in his legs. <i>Sir T. More.</i></blockquote>

<cs><col>Cramp bone</col>, <cd>the patella of a sheep; -- formerly used as a charm for the cramp. <i>Halliwell</i>. "He could turn <i>cramp bones</i> into chess men." <i>Dickens</i>.</cd> -- <col>Cramp ring</col>, <cd>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.</cd></cs>

<h1>Cramp</h1> <Xpage=339>

<hw>Cramp</hw>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p. p.</tt> <er>Cramped</er> (kr<?/mt; 215); <tt>p. pr. & vb. n.</tt> <er>Cramping</er>.]</wordforms> <p><b>1.</b> <def>To compress; to restrain from free action; to confine and contract; to hinder.</def>

<blockquote>The mind my be as much <b>cramped</b> by too much knowledge as by ignorance. <i>Layard.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>To fasten or hold with, or as with, a cramp.</def>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>Hence, to bind together; to unite.</def>

<blockquote>The . . . fabric of universal justic is well <b>cramped</b> and bolted together in all its parts. <i>Burke.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>To form on a cramp; <as>as, to <ex>cramp</ex> boot legs</as>.</def>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>To afflict with cramp.</def>

<blockquote>When the gout <b>cramps</b> my joints. <i>Ford.</i></blockquote>

<cs><col>To cramp the wheels of wagon</col>, <cd>to turn the front wheels out of line with the hind wheels, so that one of them shall be against the body of the wagon.</cd></cs>

<h1>Cramp</h1> <Xpage=339>

<hw>Cramp</hw>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[See <er>Cramp</er>, <tt>n.</tt>]</ety> Knotty; difficult. <mark>[R.]</mark>

<blockquote>Care being taken not to add any of the <b>cramp</b> reasons for this opinion. <i>Coleridge.</i></blockquote>