cram

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Crammed p. pr. & vb. n. Cramming. ] [ AS. crammian to cram; akin to Icel. kremja to squeeze, bruise, Sw. krama to press. Cf. Cramp. ] 1. To press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to crowd; to fill to superfluity; as, to cram anything into a basket; to cram a room with people. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their storehouses crammed with grain. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He will cram his brass down our throats. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fill with food to satiety; to stuff. [ 1913 Webster ]

Children would be freer from disease if they were not crammed so much as they are by fond mothers. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cram us with praise, and make us
As fat as tame things. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To put hastily through an extensive course of memorizing or study, as in preparation for an examination; as, a pupil is crammed by his tutor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of cramming. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Information hastily memorized; as, a cram from an examination. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Weaving) A warp having more than two threads passing through each dent or split of the reed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Cramp, a., difficult. ] 1. A game in which one person gives a word, to which another finds a rhyme. [ 1913 Webster ]

I saw in one corner . . . a cluster of men and women, diverting themselves with a game at crambo. I heard several double rhymes . . . which raised a great deal of mirth. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A word rhyming with another word. [ 1913 Webster ]

His similes in order set
And every crambo he could get. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dumb crambo, a game in which one party of players give a word which rhymes with another, which last to be guessed by the opposing party, who represent in dumb show what they think it to be. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who crams; esp., one who prepares a pupil hastily for an examination, or a pupil who is thus prepared. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ F. cramoisi crimson. See Crimson. ] Crimson. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A splendid seignior, magnificent in cramoisy velevet. Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cramped (krămt; 215); p. pr. & vb. n. Cramping. ] 1. To compress; to restrain from free action; to confine and contract; to hinder. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mind my be as much cramped by too much knowledge as by ignorance. Layard. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fasten or hold with, or as with, a cramp. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, to bind together; to unite. [ 1913 Webster ]

The . . . fabric of universal justic is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To form on a cramp; as, to cramp boot legs. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To afflict with cramp. [ 1913 Webster ]

When the gout cramps my joints. Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Masonry) A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Carp.) A rectangular frame, with a tightening screw, used for compressing the joints of framework, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Med.) A spasmodic and painful involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles, as of the leg. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cramp, divers nights, gripeth him in his legs. Sir T. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Med.) A paralysis of certain muscles due to excessive use; as, writer's cramp; milker's cramp, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Cramp, n. ] Knotty; difficult. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Care being taken not to add any of the cramp reasons for this opinion. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]