Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A hinged pair of curved iron bars for raising heavy objects, such as stones or timber.
  • noun A spiked iron or steel framework attached to the bottom of a shoe or boot to prevent slipping when walking or climbing on ice and snow.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An iron instrument fastened to the shoes of a storming party, to assist them in climbing a rampart.
  • noun An apparatus used in the raising of heavy weights, as timber or stones, and consisting of two hooked pieces of iron hinged together somewhat like double calipers.
  • noun In botany, an adventitious root which serves as a fulcrum or support, as in the ivy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) An aërial rootlet for support in climbing, as of ivy.
  • noun a device with pointed metal projections worn over the shoes to provide traction when walking over ice, or in mountaineering; -- usually used in the plural.
  • noun same as crampoon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An attachment to a shoe or boot that provides traction by means of spikes. Used for climbing or walking on slippery surfaces, especially ice.
  • noun botany An aerial rootlet for support in climbing, as of ivy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an iron spike attached to the shoe to prevent slipping on ice when walking or climbing
  • noun a hinged pair of curved iron bars; used to raise heavy objects

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, of Germanic origin.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • Totally thought that this was a reference for women.

    January 28, 2008

  • Ha! The only WeirdNet definition I'm familiar with is the third--Wikipedia has a good picture of the kind you wear on your feet here.

    Inappropriately, the advertising jingle for The Clapper is now stuck in my head: "Clap on (clap clap)! Clap off! (clap clap). The Clapper!"

    January 28, 2008

  • An uncomfortable tampon.

    October 18, 2008

  • John! The same thing happens to me every time I see this word!!

    October 18, 2008

  • Played this in Scrabble on my first turn, using all my letters plus the double score and got a boatload of points for it!

    January 12, 2009

  • *singing* Cramp on, cramp off... the cramper...

    January 12, 2009

  • (clap, clap)

    April 12, 2011