brain cramp
A momentary mental lapse in attention, memory, understanding, care, or competence. Sorry boss, I just had a little brain cramp there. What were you saying again? Jack, having a bit of a brain cramp, accidentally sawed the beam completely in two. A: "You hit the mailbox? But you've backed out of our driveway a million times before!" B: "I know, I must have had a brain cramp or something."
cramp (one's) style
To inhibit or interfere with what one wants to do. Ugh, having a test on Monday is really cramping my style. I just want to party all weekend! My parents coming to stay with me this weekend is totally going to cramp my style. When am I supposed to get anything done? Look, I'm not trying to cramp your style—this is just the advice I wish I'd had gotten at your age.
cramp up
1. To begin to experience muscle cramps. Whoa, I need to rest for a minute—my leg is cramping up. I can't sign autographs for hours on end, my hand will cramp up! A: "My leg cramped up so badly that it woke me out of a sound slumber." B: "Ugh, I hate when that happens."
2. To cause one to begin to experience muscle cramps. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "cramp" and up." I need to get some water—dehydration is starting to cramp me up. I can't sign autographs for hours on end—that'll cramp my hand up for sure! Holding my foot in that strange position cramped it up real good.
3. To squeeze or force someone or something into an overly small space. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "cramp" and up." Every time you try to cramp up more stuff in this closet, it all comes crashing down on me the next time I open it. Don't leave the dog cramped up in his cage all day! I don't know how the camp counselors managed to cram up so many people in one van, but, needless to say, we were thrilled to reach our destination.
cramp words
obsolete
1. A death sentence. He really needs to be careful—men have received cramp words and gone to the gallows for much less. I'm afraid that admitting guilt is the only way you'll escape cramp words in this case. How can you be so flip? Your life is literally on the line—the judge could give you cramp words for a crime like this!
2. Words that are difficult to pronounce. I found your language to have many cramp words when I first began to learn it. The silent letters in English have made for a lot of cramp words. Like, "pneumonia," for instance—pronounced nothing like it's spelled! These cramp words are tricky, so I'll go over them again, don't worry.
wanker's cramp
vulgar slang A cramp in one's hand or wrist that arises from repetitive movements, sometimes literally excessive masturbation. A: "You were in the shower for an awfully long time—you must have wanker's cramp by now." B: "Har, har. That's not what I was doing, OK?" Working with all these tiny little screws is going to give me wanker's cramp by the end of the day.
writer's cramp
A cramp in one's hand that arises from gripping a pen or pencil too tightly or for too long at a time. I started getting writer's cramp about two hours into the exam. She was taking notes so fastidiously during class that I worried she'd end up with writer's cramp.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
cramp someone's style
Fig. to limit someone in some way. I hope this doesn't cramp your style, but could you please not hum while you work? To ask Bob to keep regular hours would really be cramping his style.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
cramp someone's style
Restrict or prevent someone from free action or expression, as in It really cramps my style when Mom hovers around me while I'm making dinner. Although in 1819 Charles Lamb complained that using different inks cramped his style of writing, the present sense of this colloquial term dates only from the early 1900s.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
cramp someone's style
If someone or something cramps your style, they prevent you from behaving freely in the way that you want. You two relax and celebrate on your own. You don't want us oldies cramping your style. Like more and more women with good jobs, independent spirits and high standards, she believes marriage would cramp her style.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
cramp someone's style
prevent a person from acting freely or naturally. informalFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
cramp somebody’s ˈstyle
prevent somebody from doing something freely, or living as they want: She thinks that being seen with her parents cramps her style. ♢ Are you sure you don’t mind me coming along? I’d hate to cramp your style!Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
cramp up
v.1. To suffer muscle cramps: I cramped up while swimming today.
2. To cause someone or something to suffer muscle cramps: That lousy meal cramped me up.
3. To squeeze something tightly into a restrictive space or position: There are too many subjects cramped up together under the same heading. I was cramped up in the back seat of a compact car for hours.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
cramp (one's) style
To restrict or prevent from free action or expression.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
cramp someone's style, to
To restrict someone’s natural actions; to prevent someone from doing his or her best. This seemingly up-to-date locution was first used by Charles Lamb in 1819. He was alluding to writer’s cramp, which constricted the natural flow of one’s pen. Figuratively the term came into use in the early twentieth century. W. Somerset Maugham used it in his early spy novel, Ashenden or: The British Agent (1927): “I can’t help thinking it would cramp your style.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
writer's cramp
A painful spasm in the hand that restricts the ability to use a pen or pencil. Back in the Paleozoic Era when people wrote by hand instead of typewriters and then computers (you youngsters can ask your parents or grandparents if you don't believe me), excessive use of a pen or pencil would cause a person's hand to tense up or go into a spasm that made further writing painful or impossible or both. The condition wasn't called “repetitive stress syndrome” back then. It was “writer's cramp,” and that was no excuse for the schoolroom punishment of being made to write “I will not talk in class” one hundred times on the blackboard.
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price