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Crutch

//kɹʌt͡ʃ// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A device to assist in motion as a cane, especially one that provides support under the arm to reduce weight on a leg.

    "He walked on crutches for a month until the cast was removed from his leg."

  2. 2
    anything that serves as an expedient wordnet
  3. 3
    Something or someone that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthful dependency; a prop

    "Alcohol became a crutch to help him through the long nights; eventually it killed him."

  4. 4
    a wooden or metal staff that fits under the armpit and reaches to the ground; used by disabled person while walking wordnet
  5. 5
    A crotch; the area of body where the legs fork from the trunk.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.
  2. 7
    A knee, or piece of knee timber.
  3. 8
    A forked stanchion or post; a crotch.
  4. 9
    An improvised device, usually made from a piece of cardboard, to hold the last end of a joint. slang
Verb
  1. 1
    To support on crutches; to prop up. transitive

    "[I'll] haſten Og and Doeg to rehearſe, / Two Fools that Crutch their Feeble Senſe on Verſe; / Who by my Muſe to all ſucceeding times, / Shall live in ſpight of their own Dogrell Rhimes."

  2. 2
    To move on crutches. intransitive
  3. 3
    To shear the hindquarters of a sheep; to dag. transitive

    "After learning how to crutch at 13, he could dag 400 sheep in a day by the spring of 1965 and earned himself more than just a bit of pocket money."

  4. 4
    to stir with a crutch. transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English crucche, from Old English cryċċ (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krukkju, from Proto-Germanic *krukjō (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“wrinkle, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Scots curche, crutch (“crutch, stilts”), Dutch kruk (“crutch”), Low German krukke, Krück (“crutch”), German Krücke (“crutch”), Swedish krycka (“crutch”). Latin crucia, crucca, croccia, crocia (“crutch”), and its descendants are ultimately from the Germanic.

Etymology 2

From Middle English crucche, from Old English cryċċ (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krukkju, from Proto-Germanic *krukjō (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“wrinkle, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Scots curche, crutch (“crutch, stilts”), Dutch kruk (“crutch”), Low German krukke, Krück (“crutch”), German Krücke (“crutch”), Swedish krycka (“crutch”). Latin crucia, crucca, croccia, crocia (“crutch”), and its descendants are ultimately from the Germanic.

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