charley horse
noun/t͡ʃɑɹli hoɹs/US/t͡ʃali hɔːs/UK
Etymology
Uncertain, although first attested in American baseball slang of the 1880s, possibly related to cramps suffered by the pitcher Charles Gardner Radbourn, who was nicknamed "Old Hoss", or possibly from period use of Charlie as a generic name for horses similar to Rover for dogs and Felix for cats.
Definitions
Synonym of cramp, a painful involuntary muscle contraction, particularly a strong cramp…
Synonym of cramp, a painful involuntary muscle contraction, particularly a strong cramp in the torso, arms, or legs.
- Of course there had been plenty of bruises—one mild case of charley-horse, several dislocated or sprained fingers, a wrenched ankle or two and any number of cuts and scrapes, […]
A punch in the thigh.
- I knew to just keep my mouth shut about it — unless I wanted the word "dummy" to be followed by a charley horse.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for charley horse. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA