Other forms: cramped, cramps, cramping
A cramp is a sudden painful tightening of a muscle. Get cramp, a leg cramp, cramp in the night.
British English says get cramp with no article and American English says get a cramp. The calf at night is the classic case, and stretching the muscle is the standard remedy. Writer's cramp is the hand version. Menstrual cramps are period pain. As a verb, to cramp is to restrict: cramped conditions, cramp somebody's style, meaning to stop them behaving as they would.
1nouncrampA sudden painful tightening of a muscle.
“He got cramp at about the eightieth minute and stayed on.”
2verbrestrictTo restrict somebody or something.
“Four people in that kitchen is genuinely cramped.”
cramp is a tightening or restriction.
Frankish krampa meant a clasp or hook, from a root about bending. A cramp is a muscle clamped shut, and the metal cramp used in building is the same word for the same grip.
Old French
crampe
Middle English
crampe
English, today
cramp
From Middle English crampe, from Old French crampe. From Middle English crampe, from Old French crampe (“cramp”), from Frankish krampa (“cramp”), from Proto-West Germanic krampu, from Proto-Germanic krampō (“cramp, clasp”). Distant relative of English crop.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA