WORDLE ENGLISH
cramp
5 letters·English
cramp—(of a muscle) To contract painfully and uncontrollably.
/kɹæmp/
Origin
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.
noun
- countable, uncountableA 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.”
- countable, uncountableThat which confines or contracts.“A narrow Fortune is undoubtedly a Cramp to a great Mind.”“How does it grate upon his thankleſs ear, / Crippling his pleaſures with the cramp of fear!”
- countable, uncountableA clamp for carpentry or masonry.
- countable, uncountableA 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.
verb
- intransitive(of a muscle) To contract painfully and uncontrollably.
- transitiveTo 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.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo 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 side”
- transitiveTo 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 joints”
- To fasten or hold with, or as if with, a cramp iron.
- broadlyTo bind together; to unite.“The […] fabric of universal justice is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts.”
- To form on a cramp.“to cramp boot legs”
adj
- archaiccramped; narrow“[…] 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 dr”
name
- A surname.
Formscramps(plural) · cramps(present, singular, third-person) · cramping(participle, present) · cramped(participle, past) · cramped(past) · more cramp(comparative) · most cramp(superlative) · Cramps(plural)
Found In
Appeared In
Daily Puzzle #1820 · June 13, 2026
Daily Puzzle #410 · August 3, 2022
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