Found 1 items, similar to cramp bone.
English → English (gcide) Definition: Cramp bone Cramp \Cramp\ (kr[a^]mp), n. [OE. crampe, craumpe; akin to D. & Sw. kramp, Dan. krampe, G. krampf (whence F. crampe), Icel. krappr strait, narrow, and to E. crimp, crumple; cf. cram. See Grape.] 1. That which confines or contracts; a restraint; a shackle; a hindrance. [1913 Webster] A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster] Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear. --Cowper. [1913 Webster] 2. (Masonry) A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron. [1913 Webster] 3. (Carp.) A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the joints of framework, etc. [1913 Webster] 4. A 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. [1913 Webster] 5. (Med.) A spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, as of the leg. [1913 Webster] The cramp, divers nights, gripeth him in his legs. --Sir T. More. [1913 Webster] 6. (Med.) A paralysis of certain muscles due to excessive use; as, writer's cramp; milker's cramp, etc. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] Cramp bone, the patella of a sheep; -- formerly used as a charm for the cramp. --Halliwell. “He could turn cramp bones into chess men.” --Dickens. Cramp ring, a ring formerly supposed to have virtue in averting or curing cramp, as having been consecrated by one of the kings of England on Good Friday. [1913 Webster]