CRIPPLING

crippling, disabling, incapacitating

(adjective) that cripples or disables or incapacitates; “a crippling injury”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Verb

crippling

present participle of cripple

Adjective

crippling (comparative more crippling, superlative most crippling)

That cripples or incapacitates

Noun

crippling (plural cripplings)

State of being crippled; lameness.

Spars or timbers set up as a support against the side of a building.

Source: Wiktionary

Crip"pling (-plng), n.

Definition: Spars or timbers set up as a support against the side of a building.

CRIPPLE

Crip"ple (krp"p'l), n. Etym: [OE. cripel, crepel, crupel, AS. crypel (akin to D. kreuple, G. kr, Dan. kr, Icel. kryppill), prop., one that can not walk, but must creep, fr. AS. cre to creep. See Creep.]

Definition: One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one who is partially disabled. I am a cripple in my limbs; but what decays are in my mind, the reader must determine. Dryden.

Crip"ple (krp"p'l), a.

Definition: Lame; halting. [R.] "The cripple, tardy-gaited night." Shak.

Crip"ple, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crippled (-p'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Crippling (-plng).]

1. To deprive of the use of a limb, particularly of a leg or foot; to lame. He had crippled the joints of the noble child. Sir W. Scott.

2. To deprive of strength, activity, or capability for service or use; to disable; to deprive of resources; as, to be financially crippled. More serious embarrassments . . . were crippling the energy of the settlement in the Bay. Palfrey. An incumbrance which would permanently cripple the body politic. Macaulay.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition