Cripple — Defs

01 n. 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.

1.
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.

02 n. Swampy or low wet ground, often covered with brush or with thickets; bog.

1.
Swampy or low wet ground, often covered with brush or with thickets; bog.[Local. U. S.]
“The flats or cripple land lying between high- and low-water lines, and over which the waters of the stream ordinarily come and go.” — Pennsylvania Law Reports.
2.
A rocky shallow in a stream; -- a lumberman's term.

03 a. Lame; halting.

1.
Lame; halting.[R.]

04 v. t. To deprive of the use of a limb, particularly of a leg or foot; to lame.

imp. & p. p. Crippled; p. pr. & vb. n. Crippling

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.