writer's cramp
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
- (idiomatic) A debilitating pain preventing easy movement of the wrist, hand, or fingers, resulting from prolonged use of a pen or pencil.
- c. 1900 O. Henry, "He Also Serves":
- The recording of their tales is no more than a matter of ears and fingers. There are only two fates I dread—deafness and writer's cramp.
- 1909, P. G. Wodehouse, Mike: A Public School Story, ch. 12:
- "The following boys will go in to extra lesson this afternoon and next Wednesday," it began. And "the following boys" numbered four hundred.
- "Bates must have got writer's cramp," said Clowes, as he read the huge scroll.
- 1922, Peter B. Kyne, Cappy Ricks Retires, ch. 23:
- Christmas dividend checks and checks covering Christmas presents to his employees were always signed by him. . . . He had writer's cramp by the time he finished.
- 2007 Nov. 4, John Updike, "On Literary Biography" (excerpt from Due Considerations), New York Times (retrieved 9 Dec 2011):
- Henry James, after he suffered an attack of writer's cramp, began to dictate to a typist.
- c. 1900 O. Henry, "He Also Serves":
Synonyms
Translations
cramp in the writing hand
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