CRUTCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crutch mean? 

• CRUTCH (noun)
  The noun CRUTCH has 2 senses:

1. a wooden or metal staff that fits under the armpit and reaches to the ground; used by disabled person while walking

2. anything that serves as an expedient

  Familiarity information: CRUTCH used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRUTCH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A wooden or metal staff that fits under the armpit and reaches to the ground; used by disabled person while walking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("crutch" is a kind of...):

staff (a strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Anything that serves as an expedient

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he uses drugs as a psychological crutch

Hypernyms ("crutch" is a kind of...):

expedient (a means to an end; not necessarily a principled or ethical one)

 Context examples 

What with the steepness of the incline, the thick tree stumps, and the soft sand, he and his crutch were as helpless as a ship in stays.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

One is lame, poor thing, he's got a crutch.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Treatments include medicines, using crutches, limiting activities that put weight on the affected joints, electrical stimulation and surgery.

(Osteonecrosis, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

You should be fitted for crutches, canes and walkers.

(Mobility Aids, NIH)

Suddenly the door opened, and a woman as old as the hills, who supported herself on crutches, came creeping out.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Her only association with the word was a yellow face and a nightcap, or a pair of crutches, or a wooden leg, or a dog with a decanter-stand in his mouth, or something of that kind; and she stared at me with the most delightful wonder.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“By the three kings!” cried one, “here is an old dotard shrew to have so goodly a crutch! Use the leg that God hath given you, man, and do not bear so heavily upon the wench.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here’s the record of the Tarleton murders, and the case of Vamberry, the wine merchant, and the adventure of the old Russian woman, and the singular affair of the aluminium crutch, as well as a full account of Ricoletti of the club-foot, and his abominable wife.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Growling the foulest imprecations, he crawled along the sand till he got hold of the porch and could hoist himself again upon his crutch.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Both are tall fellows with whiskers, Fred handsome in the English style, and Frank much better, for he only limps slightly, and uses no crutches.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)