Crutches are the two sticks you lean on to walk with a broken leg. Under the arms, or gripped at the forearm.
The elbow type is standard in Britain and the underarm type in America, which is a small and reliable difference between hospital dramas. Using them properly is harder than it looks and exhausting after the first hour. The singular is a crutch. The figurative sense is a criticism, since calling something a crutch means it is a support somebody has come to rely on rather than a solution.
1nouncrutchesSupports held under the arm or forearm to help someone walk.
“He was on crutches for six weeks.”
2nounreliedSomething relied on too heavily for support.
“The notes had become a crutch he could not do without.”
Also accepted in games: crutch
Proto-Indo-European
*grewg- — wrinkle, bend
Proto-Germanic
*krukjō — crutch, staff
Proto-West Germanic
*krukkju
Old English
cryċċ — crutch, staff
Middle English
crucche
English
crutch
English, today
crutches
crutch comes 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 from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA