Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Crutch |
CrutchNoun1. 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; "he uses drugs as a psychological crutch". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "crutch" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1591. (references) |
Etymology: Crutch \Crutch\ (kr[u^]ch), noun; plural Crutches(-[e^]z). [Old English crucche, Anglo-Saxon crycc, cricc; akin to Dutch kruk, German kr["u]cke, Danish krykke, Swedish krycka, and to English crook. See Crook, and compare to Cricketa low stool.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | That part of a tree where the main stem or the larger branches fork. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Angularity | Elbow, knee, knuckle, ankle, groin, crotch, crutch, crane, fluke, scythe, sickle, zigzag, kimbo, akimbo. |
Support | Staff, stick, crutch, alpenstock, baton, staddle; bourdon, cowlstaff, lathi, mahlstick. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Crutch |
| English words defined with "crutch": Crutches. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "crutch": compression paralysis, crutch palsy, crutch paralysis ♦ LIFTER. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "crutch": Potence. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Your kid is one crutch short of a telethon. (Very Bad Things; writing credit: Peter Berg) A crutch isn't bad if you need it, Sidney. (Unstrung Heroes; writing credit: Richard LaGravenese) | |
Lyrics | I ain't coming 'round searching for a crutch (HUMAN TOUCH; performing artist: Bruce Springsteen) | |
Clever | Christianity is not a crutch. It's a pair of wings. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | The crutch that cripples. / WHO photo. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Representative William D. Upshaw of Georgia, a leader of the drys, standing on railing with crutch and holding umbrella, with dome of the U.S. Capitol under the umbrell. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
John Dryden | Reason is a crutch for age, but youth is strong enough to walk alone. |
Lily Tomlin | Reality is a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Crutch" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Crutch" is used about 109 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 109 | 31,132 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "crutch" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Crutch | Last name | 100 | 86,393 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "crutch": crutch palsy ♦ crutch paralysis. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "crutch": crutch-stop. | |
Ending with "crutch": boat-crutch. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "crutch"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | kruk. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | shtrat (bed, berth, bottom, couch, floor, hotbed, kip, layer, rest, sack), parericë, mbështetëse (backrest, bearer, bracket, buttress, console, prop, rack, reinforcement, rest, saddle, shore, stanchion, stand, support, supporter). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | سناد للرجلين, عكاز (cane, hilt), ركيزة (mounting, outrigger, pier, pillar, prop, stanchion, stilt, string, strut), شاكوش, دعامة منشعبة, دعامة (abutment, armature, backlog, beam, brace, hold, leg, pier, pillar, prop, shore, slip, slipway, staff, stanchion, stick, stock, strut, support). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | стойка (attitude, bipod, carriage, deportment, holder, leg, pier, pillar, port, post, posture, rack, rest, riser, set, stand, tree), чатал (crotch, fork), опора (abut, anchor, anchorage, backlog, bearer, bulwark, buttress, column, cradle, dependence, faith, foothold, holder, jamb, lodgement, lodgment, mainstay, palladium, pillar, prop, purchase, rampart, rest, rock, roothold, sinews, staff, stand by, stay, stock, stronghold, support, tower, underpinning), патерица. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 拐杖 (Crutches). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | berlièka, berle. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | tvege (crotch, fork, forked trees), krykker, krykke (roach, roach clip), gaffel (fork). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | kruk (crank, handle, stool). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | lambastono. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | محل انشعاب بدن انسان(چون زیربغل), هرعضویاچیزی که کمک ونگهدارباشد, زیربغل راه رفتن , عصای زیربغل (Stilt), دوقاچ جلووعقب زین , دوشاخه زیرچیزی گذاشتن , دوشاخه (Crotch, Fork, Knee, Pitchfork), باچوب چوب زیربغل . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | oksahanka (crotch, fork), haara (bough, branch, direction, fork). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | fourche (crotch), béquille. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | krücke (crook, dead loss, prop, rake, stay, washout). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | δεκανίκι, βακτηρία (walking-stick), πατερίτσα (crosier). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | משע ת (abutment, buttress, staff, stave, support), קב (stilt). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | mankó (gooseneck). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | tongkat ketiak (crank), penopang. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | gruccia (coat hanger, hanger), stampella (coat hanger, peg), biforcazione (fork, forking, turning). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 松葉杖 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | まつばづえ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 목발 (Crutches). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | lorg aghlish, cammag (cammag, hockey, hockey stick, shinty). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | krykke. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | utchcray muleta (stand). (various references) cârjã (crook, leg, staff, support). (various references) костыль (crooked nail, dog nail, toggle). (various references) lorg (a staff, find, foot-print, haft of a spear, mark, path, staff, trace, track). (various references) štaka. (various references) muleta (mule foal). (various references) stöd (abutment, backing, buttress, console, countenance, endorsement, indorsation, indorsement, linchpin, litter, patronage, prop, rest, server, stand by, stay, support, supporter, trestle), krycka. (various references) koltuk değneği, destek (aid, anchorage, assistance, backing, backup, bolster, booster, brace, bracer, bracket, buttress, contribution, cooperation, corbel, countenance, endorsement, friend, indorsement, mounting, pillar, pit prop, prop, reinforcement, relief, rest, rider, second, shore, shot, sponsorship, spur, staff, stake, stanchion, stand by, stay, stiffening, strut, support, supporter, supporting, sustenance, truss, underlay, upholder). (various references) piюek. (various references) костур (hock), опора (anchorage, anchorage-ground, backing, bearer, buttress, cradle, footing, holdfast, pillar, reliance, stay, steady, stilt, stock, support, tower), милиця, підтримка (aegis, aliment, alimentation, backing, boost, cheer, egis, espousal, favour, pick me up, prop, sanction, smiles, sponsorship, support, sustention, vindication). (various references) baglan (run away, stumble, trip), bagl (crook, leg). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "crutch": crutched, crutches, crutching. (additional references) | |
| |
"Crutch" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Caruth, coutch, crach, cratch, croch, croth, croutch, Cruach, cruch, cruntch, crutche, Csutcb, cutach, Drumtech, fratch, gratch, Krutch, Trutch. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-c-h-r-t-u" | |
-1 letter: curch, cutch. | |
-2 letters: curt, hurt, ruth, thru. | |
-3 letters: cur, cut, hut, rut. | |
-4 letters: uh, ut. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-c-h-r-t-u" | |
+2 letters: cartouch, crutched, crutches, cutchery, scutcher. | |
+3 letters: autarchic, cartouche, crutching, scutchers, ultrachic. | |
+4 letters: antichurch, cartouches, churchiest, crunchiest, cutcheries, parachutic. | |
+5 letters: autarchical, breechclout, charcuterie, churchliest, eucharistic, euchromatic, interchurch. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
