Cripple
WordNet
noun
(1) Someone who is unable to walk normally because of an injury or disability to the legs or back
verb
(2) Deprive of the use of a limb, especially a leg
"The accident has crippled her for life"
(3) Deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless
"This measure crippled our efforts"
"Their behavior stultified the boss's hard work"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From crypel, cognate with ; confer Dutch kreupel, German Krüppel, Old Norse cryppill.
Adjective
- Crippled.
- 1599 — William Shakespeare, Henry V, iv 1
- And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night, who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp so tediously away.
- 1599 — William Shakespeare, Henry V, iv 1
Noun
- 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.
- a shortened wooden stud or brace used to construct the portion of a wall above a door or above and below a window.
- scrapple.
Verb
- to make someone a cripple; to cause someone to get a physical disability
- The car bomb crippled five passers-by.
- to damage seriously; to destroy
- My ambitions were crippled by a lack of money.
- 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.