Cripple

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɹɪpl/
• Rhymes: -ɪpÉ™l

Alternative forms

• creeple dialectal

Origin

From Middle English cripel, crepel, crüpel, from Old English crypel ("crippled; a cripple"), from Proto-Germanic *krupilaz ("tending to crawl; a cripple"), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- ("to bend, crouch, crawl"), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- ("to bend, twist"), equivalent to creep + -le. Cognate with Dutch kreupel, German Krüppel, Old Norse kryppill.

Full definition of cripple

Adjective

1. Crippled.
• 1599 — William Shakespeare, , iv 1And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night, who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp so tediously away.

Noun

1. (sometimes offensive) a person who has severe impairment in his physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or amputation of parts of the body.He returned from war a cripple.
• DrydenI am a cripple in my limbs; but what decays are in my mind, the reader must determine.
2. A shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or above and below a window.
3. (dialect, Southern US except Louisiana) scrapple.

Synonyms

• disabled person

Derived terms

• emotional cripple

Verb

1. to make someone a cripple; to cause someone to get a physical disabilityThe car bomb crippled five passers-by.
2. (figuratively) to damage seriously; to destroyMy ambitions were crippled by a lack of money.
3. 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.

Anagrams

• clipper