ALL meanings of cripple
crip·ple
C c - countable noun cripple A person with a physical disability or a serious permanent injury is sometimes referred to as a cripple. 3
- verb cripple If someone is crippled by an injury, it is so serious that they can never move their body properly again. 3
- countable noun cripple If you describe someone as an emotional cripple, you mean that they have a particular psychological or emotional problem which prevents them from living a normal life. 3
- verb cripple If something cripples a person, it causes them severe psychological or emotional problems. 3
- verb cripple To cripple a machine, organization, or system means to damage it severely or prevent it from working properly. 3
- noun cripple a person who is lame 3
- noun cripple a person who is or seems disabled or deficient in some way 3
- noun cripple a dense thicket, usually in marshy land 3
- verb cripple to make a cripple of; disable 3
- noun cripple a person or animal that is lame or otherwise disabled in a way that prevents normal motion of the limbs or body 3
- noun cripple thicketed, swampy or low, wet land 3
- verb transitive cripple to make cripple of; lame 3
- verb transitive cripple to make unable or unfit to act, function effectively, etc.; disable 3
- noun cripple Offensive. a term used to refer to a person who is partially or totally unable to use one or more limbs. an animal that is similarly disabled; a lame animal. Offensive. a person who is disabled or impaired in any way: a mental cripple. 1
- noun cripple anything that is impaired or flawed. 1
- noun cripple a wounded animal, especially one shot by a hunter. 1
- noun cripple Carpentry. any structural member shorter than usual, as a stud beneath a windowsill. 1
- noun cripple Delaware Valley. a swampy, densely overgrown tract of land. 1
- verb with object cripple to make a cripple of; lame. 1
- verb with object cripple to disable; impair; weaken. 1
- adjective cripple Carpentry. jack1 (def 29). 1
- noun cripple A person who is unable to walk or move properly because of disability or injury to their back or legs. 1
- noun cripple When referring to someone for whom it is difficult or impossible to walk or move without some kind of external aid like crutches or a wheelchair, sensitivity is called for. The words cripple and crippled are no longer considered appropriate. Although these terms have been in use since before the year 950, since the mid-1900s they have become increasingly uncommon and are now regarded as insulting. Since the late 20th century, the terms handicapped and the handicapped, once thought to be acceptable alternatives, have also become somewhat offensive. (Handicapped remains acceptable, however, in certain set phrases like handicapped parking.) Attempts to replace crippled with the milder euphemistic term physically challenged were sidetracked by a virtual explosion of satirical imitations like economically challenged (poor), ethically challenged (immoral), and vertically challenged (short). The currently acceptable terms are disabled and, when referring to groups, the phrase people with disabilities, or somewhat less commonly, the disabled. These terms are not only less likely to offend, they are more useful. While cripple and crippled traditionally denoted permanent impairments of one or more limbs, disabled is a broader, more comprehensive word that can refer to many different kinds of physical or mental impairments, whether temporary or permanent. cripple and crippled are not deemed offensive when referring to an inanimate object or an animal. And cripple can be used freely as a verb, especially metaphorically, as in Failing to upgrade the computer system will cripple our business. See also retarded. 1
- transitive verb cripple person: physically 1
- transitive verb cripple machine, process 1
- transitive verb cripple plan, efforts 1
- noun cripple lame or handicapped person 1
- noun cripple (often offensive) a person who has severely impaired physical abilities because of deformation, injury, or amputation of parts of the body. 0
- noun cripple A shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or above and below a window. 0
- noun cripple (dialect, Southern US except Louisiana) scrapple. 0
- noun cripple (among lumbermen) A rocky shallow in a stream. 0
- verb cripple to make someone a cripple; to cause someone to get a physical disability. 0
- verb cripple (figuratively) to damage seriously; to destroy. 0
- verb cripple to release a product (especially a computer program) with reduced functionality, in some cases, making the item essentially worthless. 0
- adjective cripple Crippled. 0