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(krp"p'l), n.[OE. cripel, crepel, crupel, AS. crypel (akin to D. kreuple, G. krppel, Dan. krbling, Icel. kryppill), prop., one that can not walk, but must creep, fr. AS. crepan to creep. See Creep.] 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. Crip"ple (krp"p'l), a.Lame; halting. [R.] "The cripple, tardy-gaited night." Shak. Crip"ple v. t.[imp. & p. p.Crippled (-p'ld); p. pr. & vb. n.Crippling (-pl?ng).] 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. Crip"ple [Local. U. S.] (a) Swampy or low wet ground, often covered with brush or with thickets; bog. 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. (b) A rocky shallow in a stream; -- a lumberman's term. スポンサード リンク
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