cripple

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Crippled.

   • And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night, who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp so tediously away.
   • Early treatment, and treatment spread over a long period, was the on means of rendering a cripple child fit to mix with its fellows on anything like equal terms, […]
2. 2

   A person who has severely impaired physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or…

   A person who has severely impaired physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or amputation of parts of the body.

   • He returned from war a cripple.
   • I am […]a cripple in my limbs; but what decays are in my mind, the reader must determine.
3. 3

   A person who is severely impaired or deficient in some non-physical way.

   • Many a one, who perhaps doesn't suspect it, is a moral cripple, or maybe a mental cripple.
4. ›+ 8 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or…

      A shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or above and below a window.

   2. 5

      Scrapple.

   3. 6

      A rocky shallow in a stream.

   4. 7

      To make someone a cripple

      To make someone a cripple; to cause someone to become physically impaired.

      • The car bomb crippled five passers-by.
      • A rackingly painful disease that affects the joints and finally cripples, it is caused by an imbalance of uric acid in the system.
   5. 8

      To damage seriously

      To damage seriously; to destroy.

      • My ambitions were crippled by a lack of money.
      • But in respect to the emotional crippling of children it seems to me that women have been overblamed for the kinds of mothers they make, and underblamed for the failure of their marriages.
   6. 9

      To cause severe and disabling damage

      To cause severe and disabling damage; to make unable to function normally.

      • With all these people all around / I'm crippled with anxiety / But I'm told it's where I'm s'posed to be.
      • But the penny was beginning to drop: even a successful railway could be crippled by its capital costs.
   7. 10

      To release a product (especially a computer program) with reduced functionality, in some…

      To release a product (especially a computer program) with reduced functionality, in some cases, making the item essentially worthless.

      • The word processor was released in a crippled demonstration version that did not allow you to save.
   8. 11

      To nerf something to the point of being underpowered.

The neighborhood

• neighbordisfigurement
• neighborlame
• neighborparalysis
• neighbordisability