crutch
Definitions
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"He looked wistfully at the pair of crutches." -
WordNet 3.6
- n crutch anything that serves as an expedient "he uses drugs as a psychological crutch"
- n crutch a wooden or metal staff that fits under the armpit and reaches to the ground; used by disabled person while walking
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Additional illustrations & photos:
Jacques, with his crutches, sits on a bench under a tree
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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- Crutch (Naut) A forked stanchion or post; a crotch. See Crotch.
- Crutch A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.
- Crutch (Naut) A knee, or piece of knee timber
- Crutch 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.""Rhyme is a crutch that lifts the weak alone."
- v. t Crutch To support on crutches; to prop up. "Two fools that crutch their feeble sense on verse."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- n crutch A support for the lame in walking, consisting of a staff of the proper length, with a crosspiece at one end so shaped as to fit easily under the armpit. The upper part of the staff is now commonly divided lengthwise into two parts, separated by an inserted piece used as a handle.
- n crutch Hence Figuratively, old age.
- n crutch Any fixture or mechanical device resembling a crutch or the head of a crutch. A forked rest for the leg on a woman's saddle.
- n crutch A rack: as, a bacon-crutch.
- crutch To support on crutches; prop or sustain.
- crutch In soap-making, to stir forcibly with a crutch. See crutch, n., 3 .
- n crutch A cross. See cross.
- crutch In leather manufacturing, to work with a crutch.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- n Crutch kruch a staff with a cross-piece at the head to place under the arm of a lame person: any support like a crutch
- v.t Crutch to support: to prop
- v.i Crutch to go on crutches
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Quotations
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“Our hours in love have wings; in absence, crutches.” -
“Education is a crutch with which the foolish attack the wise to prove that they are not idiots.” -
“Reality is the crutch for people who can't cope with drugs.” -
“Reason is a crutch for age, but youth is strong enough to walk alone.”
Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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
Usage
In literature:
Charcoal was as delighted to get back his wooden legs and crutches as Alphonse was to recover his fiddle.
"Paul Gerrard" by W.H.G. Kingston
They gave me five silver dollars, and these crutches, and I hobbled off.
"The Confidence-Man" by Herman Melville
It was the crutch, Paul's own crutch; and it was so far above where they had sat at work that it seemed as though it must have been flung there.
"Derrick Sterling" by Kirk Monroe
The crippled boy hobbled across the room on his crutch and grasped his chum tightly by the shoulder.
"The Boy with the U. S. Weather Men" by Francis William Rolt-Wheeler
The carpenter soon came, with some crutches he had borrowed for Hugh to try; and when they were sure of the right length, Hugh had a new pair.
"The Crofton Boys" by Harriet Martineau
You got two legs and no crutches!
"Patchwork" by Anna Balmer Myers
Mr. Gaythorne, who was on crutches, met her at the head of the staircase.
"Doctor Luttrell's First Patient" by Rosa Nouchette Carey
The carpenter soon came, with some crutches he had borrowed for Hugh to try; and when they were sure of the right length, Hugh had a new pair.
"The Crofton Boys" by Harriet Martineau
His mind lingered upon the long row of squat, fat-footed shoe-packs which the old man had indicated with his gnarled crutch.
"The Promise" by James B. Hendryx
We made him a crutch.
"A Little Girl in Old Quebec" by Amanda Millie Douglas
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In poetry:
Bones of the iron age, it stands,
And, as to madness grown,
Flings down each year, from powerless hands,
A crutch of scatter'd stone.
And, as to madness grown,
Flings down each year, from powerless hands,
A crutch of scatter'd stone.
"A Walk To Pamphy Linns" by Alexander Anderson
But idly sat, and ate the lotus leaf,
Losing the nobler touch
Of that which makes us count one aim the chief,
Which makes the rest a crutch.
Losing the nobler touch
Of that which makes us count one aim the chief,
Which makes the rest a crutch.
"In Tempe" by Alexander Anderson
I love you more than a wasp can sting,
And more than the subway jerks,
I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,
And more than a hangnail irks.
And more than the subway jerks,
I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,
And more than a hangnail irks.
"To My Valentine" by Ogden Nash
Her life was bound to crutches: pale and bent,
But smiling ever, she would go and come:
For of her soul GOD made an instrument
Of strength and comfort to an humble home.
But smiling ever, she would go and come:
For of her soul GOD made an instrument
Of strength and comfort to an humble home.
"The Better Lot" by Madison Julius Cawein
I saw her then,--and now I see
That, though resigned and cheerful, she
Has sorrowed much:
She has, He gave it tenderly,
Much faith; and carefully laid by,
The little crutch.
That, though resigned and cheerful, she
Has sorrowed much:
She has, He gave it tenderly,
Much faith; and carefully laid by,
The little crutch.
"The Widow's Mite" by Frederick Locker-Lampson
But he resolves to save the on-coming train,
So every nerve and muscle he does strain,
And he trudges along dauntlessly on his crutches,
And tenaciously to them he clutches.
So every nerve and muscle he does strain,
And he trudges along dauntlessly on his crutches,
And tenaciously to them he clutches.
"Saving a Train" by William Topaz McGonagall
In news:
A handful of Cal players left the Big Game on crutches.
0A Michigan high school football player was struck in the face with a crutch during a brawl between players and coaches from two teams.
Ruling could lead to reopening of Crutch charter school .
Wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes and shoes were permitted in the rink.
Cal quarterback Zach Maynard, who injured his left knee in the loss to Washington, was on crutches Sunday but did not suffer ligament damage, coach Jeff Tedford said.
He was on crutches after the game.
He left the stadium on crutches.
In this Blade file photo, Nick Lehmkuhle, injured in the tornado, leans on his crutches, while his sister in law, Misty Lehmkuhle looks at the lacerations on his head.
She Wants Me 's exposition is delivered in a dizzying procession of twee affectations: green screens, split screens, animation, on-screen text, and the kind of protracted voice-over narration Margolies leans on like a crutch.
Mike D'Antoni introduction : On crutches, new coach takes over Lakers.
Couple hobbles along using their marital crutch.
Alan Anderson was walking on crutches with a boot on his injured left foot.
I have improved from two crutches to one crutch as I hobble around the house.
Students at the Crutch Ranch.
Lewin, now 65, walks with the aid of crutches.
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In science:
SDL mentions “thermodynamic depth” as a complexity measure with a convex dependence on disorder, whereas Crutchfield and Shalizi have shown that it is an increasing function of disorder.
Response to Comments on "Simple Measure for Complexity"
Along a similar vein, the argument of Crutchfield and Shalizi seems to ignore the problem of frames of reference.
Response to Comments on "Simple Measure for Complexity"
Whether such an issue would arise in some future formulation of quantum field theory that avoids some of the crutches that seem difficult to do without at present, if there is one, would be interesting to know.
Empirical Equivalence, Artificial Gauge Freedom and a Generalized Kretschmann Objection
Crutchfield, J. (1994) Critical computation, phase transitions, and hierarchical learning.
Modular Random Boolean Networks
Originally suggested in the context of evolutionary game theory (e.g., see (Hofbauer and Sigmund 1998; Hofbauer and Sigmund 2003)), replicator equations have been used to model collective learning and adaptation in a systems of interacting self–interested agents (Sato and Crutchfield 2003).
Replicator Dynamics of Co-Evolving Networks
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