Cramp word meaning and definition

[noun] a strip of metal with ends bent at right angles; used to hold masonry together
[noun] a clamp for holding pieces of wood together while they are glued
[noun] a painful and involuntary muscular contraction
[verb] prevent the progress or free movement of; "He was hampered in his efforts by the bad weather"; "the imperilist nation wanted to strangle the free trade between the two small countries"
[verb] secure with a 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. A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind. --L'Estrange. Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear. --Cowper. 2. (Masonry) A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron. 3. (Carp.) A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the joints of framework, etc. 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. 5. (Med.) A spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, as of the leg. The cramp, divers nights, gripeth him in his legs. --Sir T. More. {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.
\Cramp\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cramped} (kr?mt; 215); p. pr. & vb. n. {Cramping}.] 1. To compress; to restrain from free action; to confine and contract; to hinder. The mind my be as much cramped by too much knowledge as by ignorance. --Layard. 2. To fasten or hold with, or as with, a cramp. 3. Hence, to bind together; to unite. The . . . fabric of universal justic is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts. --Burke. 4. To form on a cramp; as, to cramp boot legs. 5. To afflict with cramp. When the gout cramps my joints. --Ford. {To cramp the wheels of wagon}, to turn the front wheels out of line with the hind wheels, so that one of them shall be against the body of the wagon.
\Cramp\, a. [See {Cramp}, n.] Knotty; difficult. [R.] Care being taken not to add any of the cramp reasons for this opinion. --Coleridge.
\Cramp\, n. (Med.) A paralysis of certain muscles due to excessive use; as, writer's cramp; milker's cramp, etc.

Morse code: -.-. .-. .- -- .--.