crutch

English

Crutch

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹʌt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ʌtʃ

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

crutch (plural crutches)

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.

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     I'll lean upon one crutch, and fight with the other.

2. Something 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.

   • 1710, Edmund Smith, A poem on the death of Mr. John Philips:

     Rhyme […] is […] at best a crutch that lifts the weak alone.

3. A crotch; the area of body where the legs fork from the trunk.
4. A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.
5. (nautical) A knee, or piece of knee timber.
6. (nautical) A forked stanchion or post; a crotch.

Derived terms

• Christ on a crutch
• could eat the crutch from a low flying duck
• crutch cross
• crutch word
• forearm crutch
• underarm crutch

 

Translations

device to assist in motion as a cane

• Albanian: shtrat (sq) f
• Arabic: عُكَّاز m (ʕukkāz), عُكَّازَة f (ʕukkāza) (singulative)

  Egyptian Arabic: عكازة f (ʕukkāza)

• Armenian: անթացուպ (hy) (antʻacʻup)
• Azerbaijani: qoltuqağacı
• Basque: makulu
• Belarusian: мы́ліца f (mýlica), касты́ль m (kastýlʹ), ку́ля f (kúlja)
• Breton: flac'h (br) f, bazh-loaek (br) f
• Bulgarian: па́терица (bg) f (páterica)
• Burmese: ချိုင်းထောက် (my) (hkyuing:htauk)
• Catalan: crossa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 拐杖 (gwaai² zoeng^6-2), 拐子 (gwaai² zi²)

  Mandarin: 拐杖 (zh) (guǎizhàng), 拐子 (zh) (guǎizi)

• Czech: berle (cs) f
• Danish: krykke c
• Dutch: kruk (nl) f
• Esperanto: lambastono
• Estonian: kark
• Faroese: høkja f
• Finnish: kainalosauva (fi)
• French: béquille (fr) f
• Georgian: ყავარჯენი (q̇avarǯeni)
• German: Krücke (de) f
• Greek: δεκανίκι (el) n (dekaníki), πατερίτσα (el) f (paterítsa)
• Hebrew: קַב (he) m (káv), קביים \ קַבַּיִם (he) m pl (kabáyim)
• Hindi: बैसाखी (hi) m (baisākhī)
• Hungarian: mankó (hu)
• Icelandic: hækja (is) f
• Irish: bata croise m, maide croise m, croisín m
• Italian: stampella (it) f, gruccia (it) f
• Japanese: 松葉杖 (ja) (まつばづえ, matsubazue)
• Kalmyk: түшүр (tüşür)
• Kazakh: балдақ (baldaq)
• Khmer: ច្រត់ (km) (crɑt), ឈើច្រត់ (chəə crɑt)
• Korean: 목다리 (mokdari), 목발 (mokbal)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: گۆچان (ckb) (goçan)

• Kyrgyz: балдак (ky) (baldak)
• Latvian: kruķis m
• Lithuanian: ramentas m
• Lombard: cròça, cròçola, stampella
• Luxembourgish: Krätsch f
• Macedonian: патерица f (paterica)
• Maori: turupou, tokowae, tokotoko
• Middle English: crucche, potent
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: таяг (mn) (tajag), суга таяг (suga tajag)

• Neapolitan: stanfella
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: krykke m or f

  Nynorsk: krykke f, krykkje f

• Old English: cryċċ f
• Old Norse: hœkja f
• Ottoman Turkish: قولتق دگنكی (koltuk değeneği)
• Persian: عصا (fa) ('asâ)
• Plautdietsch: Kjrekj f
• Polish: kula (pl) f
• Portuguese: muleta (pt) f, canadiana (pt) f
• Romanian: cârjă (ro) f
• Russian: косты́ль (ru) m (kostýlʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шта̏ка f

  Roman: štȁka (sh) f

• Slovak: barla f
• Slovene: bergla (sl) f
• Spanish: muleta (es) f
• Swedish: krycka (sv) c
• Tagalog: saklay, muleta
• Tajik: асо (aso), таёқ (tayoq)
• Thai: ไม้เท้า (th) (mái-táao), ไม้ยัน (máai-yan), ไม้ยันรักแร้ (máai-yan-rák-rɛ́ɛ)
• Tocharian B: ṣpikiye
• Turkish: koltuk değneği
• Turkmen: pişek
• Ukrainian: кости́ль m (kostýlʹ), ми́лиця (uk) f (mýlycja), ку́ля f (kúlja), ко́стур (uk) m (kóstur), костуря́ка f (kosturjáka)
• Urdu: بیساکھی f (baisākhī)
• Uzbek: qoʻltiq (uz), tayoq (uz), xassa
• Vietnamese: nạng (vi)
• Welsh: bagl f
• Zhuang: dwngx

something that supports

• Bulgarian: опо́ра (bg) f (opóra), подста́вка (bg) f (podstávka)
• Finnish: tuki (fi)
• French: soutien (fr) m, support (fr) m
• German: Stütze (de) f, Krücke (de) f
• Icelandic: stoð (is) f, styrkur (is) m
• Italian: stampella (it) f
• Latin: adminiculum n
• Lombard: stampella, supòrt
• Slovene: bergla (sl) f
• Spanish: apoyo (es) m, soporte (es) m, muleta (es) f

crotch — see crotch

Verb

crutch (third-person singular simple present crutches, present participle crutching, simple past and past participle crutched)

1. (transitive) To support on crutches; to prop up.
   • 1682, [Nahum Tate; John Dryden], The Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel. A Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 13:

     [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. (intransitive) To move on crutches.
3. (transitive) To shear the hindquarters of a sheep; to dag.
   • 2010 January 29, Emma Partridge, “Richie Foster a cut above the rest”, in Stock Journal‎^[1]:

     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. (transitive, in soap-making) to stir with a crutch.

Derived terms

• crutcher