Etymology 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.
1
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.
2
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:
3
A clamp for carpentry or masonry.
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.
Etymology 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.
(of a muscle) To contract painfully and uncontrollably.
2
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)
3
Figuratively 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:
4
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:
5
To fasten or hold with, or as if with, a cramp iron.
6
Broadly 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:
Etymology 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.
[…] 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.1871, David Masson, The Life of John Milton: