Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Crutch

Crutch (krŭch; 224), n.; pl. Crutches (-ĕz). [OE. crucche, AS. crycc, cricc; akin to D. kruk, G. krücke, Dan. krykke, Sw. krycka, and to E. crook. See Crook, and cf. Cricket a low stool.] 1. A staff with a crosspiece at the head, to be placed under the arm or shoulder, to support the lame or infirm in walking.

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

Rhyme is a crutch that lifts the weak alone. H. Smith.

2. A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.

3. (Naut.) (a) A knee, or piece of knee timber. (b) A forked stanchion or post; a crotch. See Crotch.

Crutch, v. t. To support on crutches; to prop up. [R.]

Two fools that crutch their feeble sense on verse. Dryden.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.