crip·ple

[krip-uhl] noun, verb, crip·pled, crip·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, especially 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.
00:10
Crippling is always a great word to know.
So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
adjective
8.
Carpentry. jack1 ( def 27 ).

Origin:
before 950; Middle English cripel, Old English crypel; akin to creep

crip·pler, noun
crip·pling·ly, adverb
un·crip·pled, adjective


7. maim. Cripple, disable mean to injure to a degree that interferes with normal activities. To cripple is to injure in such a way as to deprive of the use of a member, particularly a leg. Disable a more general word, implies any such illness, injury, or impairment: disabled by an attack of malaria; disabled by a wound.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To crippling
Collins
World English Dictionary
cripple (ˈkrɪpəl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  offensive a person who is lame
2.  offensive a person who is or seems disabled or deficient in some way: a mental cripple
3.  dialect (US) a dense thicket, usually in marshy land
 
vb
4.  (tr) to make a cripple of; disable
 
[Old English crypel; related to crēopan to creep, Old Frisian kreppel a cripple, Middle Low German kröpel]
 
'crippler
 
n

crippling (ˈkrɪplɪŋ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
damaging or injurious
 
'cripplingly
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

cripple
O.E. crypel, related to cryppan "to crook, bend," from P.Gmc. *krupilaz, and/or related to O.E. creopan "to creep."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

cripple crip·ple (krĭp'əl)
n.
One that is partially disabled or unable to use a limb or limbs. v. crip·pled, crip·pling, crip·ples
To cause to lose the use of a limb or limbs.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Crippling poverty means that some families go hungry even after good harvests.
He's interested in crippling the unions that didn't support him last fall.
Whole missions are being cancelled, and others are being delayed indefinitely
  or suffering crippling cuts.
The slow progress, crippling cold, and stress have begun unraveling the
  indispensable braided rope of teamwork.
Related Words
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT