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To be ruined or impaired; to fail. [Collog.] The credit . . . of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out. Dryden.

The basket or apparatus in which, when a line has been made fast to a wrecked ship from the shore, the people are brought off from the wreck. Cat's cradle. See under Cat. -- Cradle hole, a sunken place in a road, caused by thawing, or by travel over a soft spot. -- Cradle scythe, a broad scythe used in a cradle for c…

To afflict with cramp. When the gout cramps my joints. Ford. To cramp the wheels of wagon, to turn the front wheels out of line with the hind wheels, so that one of them shall be against the body of the wagon.

Liable to careen or be overest, as a ship when she is too narrow, or has not sufficient ballast, or is loaded too high, to carry full sail.

h passes the ulnar nerve; -- so called on account of the curiously painful tingling felt, when, in a particular position, it receives a blow; -- called also funny bone. -- Crazy quilt, a bedquilt made of pieces of silk or other material of various sizes, shapes, and colors, fancifully stitched together without definit…

The rich, oily, and yellowish part of milk, which, when the milk stands unagitated, rises, and collects on the surface. It is the part of milk from which butter is obtained.

A fine, small line, fastened to a hawk's leash, when it is first lured.

he universe or this world into existence. From the creation to the general doom. Shak. As when a new particle of matter dotn begin to exist, in rerum natura, which had before no being; and this we call creation. Locke.

Reliance on the truth of something said or done; belief; faith; trust; confidence. When Jonathan and the people heard these words they gave no credit into them, nor received them. 1 Macc. x. 46.

Wood-tar oil; an oily antiseptic liquid, of a burning smoky taste, colorless when pure, but usually colored yellow or brown by impurity or exposure. It is a complex mixture of various phenols and their ethers, and is obtained by the distillation of wood tar, especially that of beechwood.

The increasing moon; the moon in her first quarter, or when defined by a concave and a convex edge; also, applied improperly to the old or decreasing moon in a like state.

To cause to contract, or to render more crisp, as the flesh of a fish, by gashing it, when living, with a knife; as, to crimp skate, etc. Crimping house, a low lodging house, into which men are decoyed and plied with drink, to induce them to ship or enlist as sailors or soldiers. -- Crimping iron. (a) An iron instrume…

crouch with base humility; to wince; hence; to make court in a degrading manner; to fawn. When they were come up to the place where the lions were, the boys that went before were glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the lions. Bunyan. Sly hypocrite, . . . who more than thou Once fawned and cringed, and servil…

ort bends or turns; to curl; to run in wavws; to wrinkle; also, to rustle, as stiff cloth when moved. The green wheat crinkles like a lake. L. T. Trowbridge. And all the rooms Were full of crinkling silks. Mrs. Browning.

The point of time when it is to be decided whether any affair or course of action must go on, or be modified or terminate; the decisive moment; the turning point. This hour's the very crisis of your fate. Dryden. The very times of crisis for the fate of the country. Brougham.

udgment; one who censures or finds fault; a harsh examiner or judge; a caviler; a carper. When an author has many beauties consistent with virtue, piety, and truth, let not little critics exalt themselves, and shower down their ill nature. I. Watts. You know who the critics are the men who have failed in literature and…

e dark space within the negative-pole glow at the cathode of a vacuum tube, observed only when the pressure is low enough to give a striated discharge; -- called also Crookes layer.

To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain. [Scot.] Jamieson.

A fall on one's head when riding at full speed, as in hunting; hence, a sudden failure or collapse. [Slang.]

badge or ornamental device of the general shape of a cross; hence, such an ornament, even when varying considerably from that form; thus, the Cross of the British Order of St. George and St. Michael consist of a central medallion with seven arms radiating from it.