Defn: One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one who is partially disabled. I am a cripple in my limbs; but what decays are in my mind, the reader must determine. Dryden.
CRIPPLE
Crip"ple (krp"p'l), a.
Defn: Lame; halting. [R.] "The cripple, tardy-gaited night." Shak.
CRIPPLE
Crip"ple, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crippled (-p'ld); p. pr. & vb. n.
Crippling (-plng).]
1. To deprive of the use of a limb, particularly of a leg or foot; to lame. He had crippled the joints of the noble child. Sir W. Scott.
2. To deprive of strength, activity, or capability for service or use; to disable; to deprive of resources; as, to be financially crippled. More serious embarrassments . . . were crippling the energy of the settlement in the Bay. Palfrey. An incumbrance which would permanently cripple the body politic. Macaulay.
CRIPPLED
Crip"pled (krp"p'ld), a.
Defn: Lamed; lame; disabled; impeded. "The crippled crone."
Longfellow.
CRIPPLENESS
Crip"ple*ness, n.
Defn: Lameness. [R.] Johnson.