crimp
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L22666 on Wikidata ↗verb
- to have an obstructive effect
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /kɹɪmp/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English crimpen (“to be contracted, be drawn together”), from Middle Dutch crimpen, crempen (“to crimp”), from Proto-Germanic *krimpaną (“to shrink, draw back”) (compare related Old English ġecrympan (“to curl”)). Cognate with Dutch krimpen, German Low German krimpen, Faroese kreppa (“crisis”), and Icelandic kreppa (“to bend tightly, clench”). Compare also derivative Middle English crymplen (“to wrinkle”) and causative crempen (“to turn something back, restrain”, literally “to cause to shrink or draw back”), both ultimately derived from the same root. See also cramp.
- Easily crumbled; friable; brittle.
“Now the Fowler […] Treads the crimp Earth,”
- Weak; inconsistent; contradictory.
“The evidence is crimp; the witnesses swear backward and forward, and contradict themselves”
noun
Etymology: Uncertain. Likely from etymology 1, above, but the historical development is not clear. Attested since the seventeenth century.
- An agent who procures seamen, soldiers, etc., especially by decoying, entrapping, impressing, or seducing them.
“Indeed, when a maſter of a ſhip, ſuppoſe at Jamaica, hath loſt any of his hands, he applies of courſe to a crimp[…]who makes it his buſineſs to ſeduce the men belonging to ſome other ſhip,”
“Walking the street very hungry, and not knowing what to do with himself, a crimp's bill was put into his hand, offering immediate entertainment and encouragement to such as would bind themselves to serve in America. He went directly, sign'd the indentures, was put into the ship, and came over, never writing a line to acquaint his friends what was become of him.”
- One who infringes sub-section 1 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1854, applied to a person other than the owner, master, etc., who engages seamen without a license from the Board of Trade.
- A keeper of a low lodging house where sailors and emigrants are entrapped and fleeced.
verb
Etymology: Uncertain. Likely from etymology 1, above, but the historical development is not clear. Attested since the seventeenth century.
- To impress (seamen or soldiers); to entrap, to decoy.
“[…]nay, where in any corner he can spy a tall man, clutching at him, to crimp him or impress him.”
“To the Reverend Fathers, it seemed that Denis would make an excellent Jesuit; wherefore they set about coaxing and courting, with intent to crimp him.”