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Crippling - 4 dictionary results

crip⋅ple

   [krip-uhl]
noun, verb, -pled, -pling, adjective
–noun
1. Sometimes Offensive.
a. a person or animal that is partially or totally unable to use one or more limbs; a lame or disabled person or animal.
b. a person who is disabled or impaired in any way: a mental cripple.
2. anything that is impaired or flawed.
3. a wounded animal, esp. one shot by a hunter.
4. Carpentry. any structural member shorter than usual, as a stud beneath a window sill.
5. Delaware Valley. a swampy, densely overgrown tract of land.
–verb (used with object)
6. to make a cripple of; lame.
7. to disable; impair; weaken.
–adjective
8. Carpentry. jack 1 (def. 27).
Origin:
bef. 950; ME cripel, OE crypel; akin to creep
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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crip·ple     (krĭp'əl)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A person or animal that is partially disabled or unable to use a limb or limbs: cannot race a horse that is a cripple.
  2. A damaged or defective object or device.
tr.v.   crip·pled, crip·pling, crip·ples
  1. To cause to lose the use of a limb or limbs.
  2. To disable, damage, or impair the functioning of: a strike that crippled the factory.

[Middle English crepel, from Old English crypel.]
crip'pler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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crippling

adjective
that cripples or disables or incapacitates; "a crippling injury" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Crippling

Crip"pling\ (-pl?ng), n. Spars or timbers set up as a support against the side of a building.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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