cripple

UK: /ˈkrɪp^əl/ US: /ˈkrɪpəl/ ,(krip′əl)

Inflections of 'cripple' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

cripples

v 3rd person singular

crippling

v pres p

crippled

v past

crippled

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2023

crip•ple /ˈkrɪpəl/   n., v., -pled, -pling. 
n. [countable]

1. Slang Terms Sometimes Offensive.
   • a lame or disabled person or animal.
   • a person disabled in any way:
     a mental cripple.

v. [~ + object]

2. to make a cripple of;
   lame:
   The bullet in his spine had crippled him permanently.
3. to damage;
   keep from working well;
   impair:
   The snowstorm crippled the railway system.

crip•pled, adj. 
crip•pler, n. [countable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2023

crip•ple  (krip′əl), n., v., -pled, -pling, adj. 
n. 

1. Slang Terms [Sometimes Offensive.]
   • a person or animal that is partially or totally unable to use one or more limbs;
     a lame or disabled person or animal.
   • a person who is disabled or impaired in any way:
     a mental cripple.
2. anything that is impaired or flawed.
3. a wounded animal, esp. one shot by a hunter.
4. Building [Carpentry.] any structural member shorter than usual, as a stud beneath a window sill.
5. Dialect Terms [Delaware Valley.] a swampy, densely overgrown tract of land.

v.t. 

6. to make a cripple of;
   lame.
7. to disable;
   impair;
   weaken.

adj. 

8. [Carpentry.] jack¹ (def. 29).

• bef. 950; Middle English cripel, Old English crypel; akin to creep

crip′pler, n. 
crip′pling•ly, adv. 
Synonyms

• 7. maim.
  Cripple, disable mean to injure to a degree that interferes with normal activities. To cripple is to injure in such a way as to deprive of the use of a member, particularly a leg.
  Disable, a more general word, implies any such illness, injury, or impairment:
  disabled by an attack of malaria; disabled by a wound.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

cripple /ˈkrɪp^əl/ n

1. offensive a person who is lame
2. offensive a person who is or seems disabled or deficient in some way: a mental cripple

vb

1. (transitive) to make a cripple of; disable

Etymology: Old English crypel; related to crēopan to creep, Old Frisian kreppel a cripple, Middle Low German kröpel

ˈcrippler n