English Dictionary |
CRIMP
Pronunciation (US): | ![]() | (GB): | ![]() |
IPA (US): | ![]() |
Dictionary entry overview: What does crimp mean?
• CRIMP (noun)
The noun CRIMP has 3 senses:
1. an angular or rounded shape made by folding
2. someone who tricks or coerces men into service as sailors or soldiers
3. a lock of hair that has been artificially waved or curled
Familiarity information: CRIMP used as a noun is uncommon.
• CRIMP (verb)
The verb CRIMP has 2 senses:
1. make ridges into by pinching together
Familiarity information: CRIMP used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
An angular or rounded shape made by folding
Classified under:
Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes
Synonyms:
bend; crease; crimp; flexure; fold; plication
Context example:
a bend of his elbow
Hypernyms ("crimp" is a kind of...):
angular shape; angularity (a shape having one or more sharp angles)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crimp"):
plait; pleat (any of various types of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and then pressing or stitching into shape)
kink; twirl; twist (a sharp bend in a line produced when a line having a loop is pulled tight)
pucker; ruck (an irregular fold in an otherwise even surface (as in cloth))
Derivation:
crimp (make ridges into by pinching together)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Someone who tricks or coerces men into service as sailors or soldiers
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
crimp; crimper
Hypernyms ("crimp" is a kind of...):
abductor; kidnaper; kidnapper; snatcher (someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom))
Sense 3
Meaning:
A lock of hair that has been artificially waved or curled
Classified under:
Nouns denoting body parts
Hypernyms ("crimp" is a kind of...):
curl; lock; ringlet; whorl (a strand or cluster of hair)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crimp"):
pin curl (a curl of hair made by dampening a strand of hair and curling it and holding the curl with a clip or bobby pin)
kiss curl; spit curl (a spiral curl plastered on the forehead or cheek)
Derivation:
crimp (curl tightly)
Conjugation: |




Past simple: crimped


Past participle: crimped


-ing form: crimping


Sense 1
Meaning:
Make ridges into by pinching together
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
crimp; pinch
Hypernyms (to "crimp" is one way to...):
fold; fold up; turn up (bend or lay so that one part covers the other)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "crimp"):
flute (form flutes in)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
crimp (an angular or rounded shape made by folding)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Curl tightly
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
crape; crimp; frizz; frizzle; kink; kink up
Context example:
crimp hair
Hypernyms (to "crimp" is one way to...):
curl; wave (twist or roll into coils or ringlets)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sentence example:
They crimp their hair
Derivation:
crimp (a lock of hair that has been artificially waved or curled)
Context examples
My aunt was walking up and down the room when I returned, crimping the borders of her nightcap with her fingers.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
A flexible container for semisolid drug products which is flattened and crimped or sealed at one end and has a reclosable opening at the other.
(Packaging Tube, NCI Thesaurus)
Well, the babies love me, they don't care if I am thin and pale and haven't time to crimp my hair, they are my comfort, and some day John will see what I've gladly sacrificed for them, won't he, my precious?
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting: as interesting as the tales Bessie sometimes narrated on winter evenings, when she chanced to be in good humour; and when, having brought her ironing-table to the nursery hearth, she allowed us to sit about it, and while she got up Mrs. Reed's lace frills, and crimped her nightcap borders, fed our eager attention with passages of love and adventure taken from old fairy tales and other ballads; or (as at a later period I discovered) from the pages of Pamela, and Henry, Earl of Moreland.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
They crimped and curled her hair, they polished her neck and arms with some fragrant powder, touched her lips with coralline salve to make them redder, and Hortense would have added 'a soupcon of rouge', if Meg had not rebelled.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
It suited her exactly, and soon she began to imitate the manners and conversation of those about her, to put on little airs and graces, use French phrases, crimp her hair, take in her dresses, and talk about the fashions as well as she could.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Learn English with... Proverbs |
"You cannot catch a flea with gloves." (Albanian proverb)
"Wealth comes like a turtle and goes away like a gazelle." (Arabic proverb)
"When two dogs fight over a bone, a third one carries it away." (Dutch proverb)