<B>craft, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>special skill. <BR> <I>Ex. The carpenter shaped and fitted the wood into a cabinet with great craft.</I> (SYN) skillfulness, dexterity, art. <DD><B> 2. </B>a trade or art requiring special skill. <BR> <I>Ex. Carpentry is a craft. No two actors are more devoted to their craft or more relentlessly determined on perfection in every detail (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the members of a trade requiring special skill. <BR> <I>Ex. He belongs to the craft of electricians.</I> (SYN) guild. <DD><B> 4. </B>skill in deceiving others; slyness; trickiness. <BR> <I>Ex. By craft the gambler tricked them out of all their money.</I> (SYN) guile, wile, deceit, fraud. <DD><B> 5a. </B>boats, ships, or aircraft. <BR> <I>Ex. Craft of all kinds come into New York harbor every day.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a boat, ship, or aircraft. <BR> <I>Ex. A strange craft sailed into the harbor.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to work, make, or finish with skill or art. <BR> <I>Ex. Skillfully cured ... the woods are crafted by experts in the cabinetmaker's art (Maclean's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="craftguild">
<B>craft guild,</B> <B>=guild </B>(def. 2).</DL>
<A NAME="craftsman">
<B>craftsman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a skilled workman; artisan. <BR> <I>Ex. The master carpenter was a real craftsman.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an artist or professional whose work shows technical skill but not necessarily of aesthetic merit. adj. <B>craftsmanlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="craftsmanship">
<B>craftsmanship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the work or skill of a craftsman. <BR> <I>Ex. This skill, craftsmanship, and experience can only be acquired over years of sustained and patient activity (London Times).</I> (SYN) craft. </DL>
<A NAME="craftunion">
<B>craft union,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a labor union made up of persons in the same craft. Unions of carpenters, plumbers, or bricklayers are craft unions. </DL>
<A NAME="craftwork">
<B>craftwork, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>work requiring or showing special skill. <BR> <I>Ex. an expert in ceramic craftwork.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a thing or things made by such work. <BR> <I>Ex. an exhibition of American Indian craftwork.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="crafty">
<B>crafty, </B>adjective, <B>craftier,</B> <B>craftiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>skillful in deceiving others; sly; tricky. <BR> <I>Ex. a crafty villain. The crafty fox lured the rabbit from its hole.</I> (SYN) cunning, wily. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Dialect.) skillful; dexterous; clever; ingenious. adv. <B>craftily.</B> noun <B>craftiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="crag">
<B>crag</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a steep, rugged rock or cliff rising above others; a projecting rock. </DL>
<A NAME="crag">
<B>crag</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish and Dialect.) the neck; throat. </DL>
<A NAME="cragfast">
<B>cragfast, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> caught between two crags and unable to go up or down, as a sheep on a craggy hillside. </DL>
<B>craggy, </B>adjective, <B>-gier,</B> <B>-giest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having many crags; steep and rugged; rough. <BR> <I>Ex. The craggy hill was difficult to climb.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>rough; uneven. <BR> <I>Ex. The old fisherman had a craggy, weathered face.</I> adv. <B>craggily.</B> noun <B>cragginess.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="cragsman">
<B>cragsman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person used to or skilled in climbing crags. </DL>
<A NAME="crake">
<B>crake, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various birds of the same family as the rail, with short bills, such as the corn crake and spotted crake. </DL>
<A NAME="cram">
<B>cram, </B>verb, <B>crammed,</B> <B>cramming,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to force into; force down; stuff. <BR> <I>Ex. He crammed as many candy bars into his pockets as they would hold. I crammed all my clothes quickly into the bag.</I> (SYN) ram. <DD><B> 2. </B>to fill too full; crowd. <BR> <I>Ex. The hall was crammed, with many people standing.</I> (SYN) pack. <DD><B> 3a. </B>to eat too fast or too much of. <BR> <I>Ex. He felt ill after he had crammed down his lunch.</I> (SYN) stuff. <DD><B> b. </B>to fill with too much food. <BR> <I>Ex. the little garden where I was crammed with gooseberries (Scott).</I> (SYN) gorge. <DD><B> c. </B>to fatten (poultry or other domestic animals) by overfeeding. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) to stuff with knowledge or information. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) to learn hurriedly. <BR> <I>Ex. He is cramming facts and dates for his history examination.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Slang, Figurative.) to tell lies or exaggerated stories to. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to eat too fast or too much. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) to try to learn too much in a short time. <BR> <I>Ex. As he hasn't studied very hard during the year, he has to cram for his final tests.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> (Informal.) <B>1. </B>a crammed or crowded condition; crush. <BR> <I>Ex. It was a prodigious cram, and we turned away no end of people (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) the act of cramming a subject, especially in preparation for an examination. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) information acquired by cramming. noun <B>crammer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="crambe">
<B>crambe, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a broad-leaved plant of the mustard family grown in northern Africa, having small, white flowers, and pods whose seeds yield an oil used especially in synthetic rubber manufacture, plastics, and lubrication. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=sea kale.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="crambo">
<B>crambo, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a game in which a player must think up a rhyme for a word or line given by another. <DD><B> 2. </B>a rhyme or rhyming (in contemptuous use). </DL>
<B>cramp</B> (1), verb, noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to shut into a small space. <BR> <I>Ex. The two of us were cramped in the telephone booth.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to limit; restrict; restrain; hamper. <BR> <I>Ex. His work was cramped by the very short time he had left to spend on it. In the Middle Ages, science was cramped by ignorance and superstition.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to turn sharply to one side or the other; steer. <BR> <I>Ex. He had to cramp his front wheels in order to get out of the tight parking space.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to fasten together with a metal cramp; clamp. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a metal bar bent at both ends; cramp iron. It is used for holding together things such as blocks of stone and timbers. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=clamp</B> (1). <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) something that confines or hinders; limitation; restriction. (SYN) constraint. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) a confined state or part. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=cramped.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>cramp one's style.</B> </I>See under <B>style.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="cramp">
<B>cramp</B> (2), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a sudden, painful contracting or pulling together of muscles, often from chill or strain. <BR> <I>Ex. The swimmer was seized with a cramp in his leg and had to be helped from the pool.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a paralysis of particular muscles as a result of using them too much. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to cause to have a contraction or paralysis of muscles. <BR> <I>Ex. The green apples he ate cramped his stomach.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>cramps,</B> </I>very sharp pains in the abdomen. <BR> <I>Ex. A light feeling of ... "cramps" during the first day or so can be relieved by a heating pad or hotwater bag placed on the abdomen (Sidonie M. Gruenberg).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cramped">
<B>cramped, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>confined; limited; restricted. <BR> <I>Ex. The poor family lived in very cramped quarters.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) unnaturally compressed; hard to make out; crabbed. <BR> <I>Ex. cramped handwriting, a cramped style.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>seized with cramp. <BR> <I>Ex. cramped fingers.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="crampfish">
<B>crampfish, </B>noun, pl. <B>-fishes</B> or (collectively) <B>-fish.</B> <B>=electric ray </B>(fish).</DL>
<B>crampon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a strong iron bar with one or more hooks at one end, used to grip heavy things, for lifting; grapnel; grappling iron. <DD><B> 2. </B>a spiked iron plate on a shoe to prevent slipping, used in logging or mountain climbing. </DL>
<A NAME="crampoon">
<B>crampoon, </B>noun. <B>=crampon.</B></DL>
<A NAME="cramps">
<B>cramps, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>cramp</B> (2). </DL>
<A NAME="cran">
<B>cran, </B>noun, pl. <B>crans</B> or (collectively) <B>cran.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a capacity measure for fresh herring fixed at 37 1/2 imperial gallons or about 750 fish. <BR> <I>Ex. Fishermen threw 200 cran of herring back into the sea rather than accept the price offered (Manchester Guardian).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cranberry">
<B>cranberry, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a firm, sour, dark-red berry, used in making sauce and jelly. <DD><B> 2. </B>a small shrub or trailing vine that these berries grow on. It grows in marshes or bogs and belongs to the heath family. <DD><B> 3. </B>any one of various plants having fruit like the cranberry. </DL>
<A NAME="cranberrybog">
<B>cranberry bog,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a marsh where cranberries grow. </DL>
<A NAME="cranberrytree">
<B>cranberry tree</B> or <B>bush,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a North American shrub or small tree of the honeysuckle family, with large clusters of white flowers and a red fruit. <DD><B> 2. </B>a closely related European shrub, also having white flowers and a red fruit; marsh elder; European cranberry bush. Its cultivated forms are known as <I>snowball</I> or <I>guelder-rose.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="crandall">
<B>crandall, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a hammerlike tool used by masons for dressing soft stone. </DL>
