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crimp
crimp, one who, during the days of the press gang, made it his business to persuade seamen to desert from a ship in order to sell them to another or to deliver them to the press gang on payment of head money. Most of them operated as keepers of seamen's lodging houses or taverns in ports with a busy turn-round of ships. The usual method of delivering seamen to a ship in need of hands was to make them drunk and deliver them on board, while still insensible, an hour or two before the ship's departure. One crimp, short of the number he had been required to collect, delivered a dead man aboard pretending he was drunk. The word is first noted in this sense in 1638. Although the practice was widespread around the world the most notorious port in which crimps flourished was San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the rate for seamen delivered to a ship about to sail reached $30 a head plus expenses. Often crimps also claimed the first month's pay of the men they delivered. In Britain, crimping was an indictable offence leading to a prison sentence.
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"crimp." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "crimp." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-crimp.html "crimp." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-crimp.html |
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crimp
crimp / krimp/ • v. [tr.] compress (something) into small folds or ridges: she crimped the edge of the pie. ∎ squeeze (metal) so as to bend or corrugate it. ∎ connect (a wire or cable) in this way. ∎ make waves in (someone's hair) with a curling iron. ∎ inf. have a limiting or adverse effect on (something): farmers complain that the drought could crimp their income potential. • n. a curl, wave, or folded or compressed edge. ∎ a small connecting piece for crimping wires or lines together. ∎ inf. a restriction or limitation. PHRASES: put a crimp in inf. have an adverse effect on. DERIVATIVES: crimp·er n. crimp·y adj. |
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Cite this article
"crimp." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "crimp." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-crimp.html "crimp." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-crimp.html |
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crimp
crimp crumple, wrinkle. Sparsely evidenced before XVII; prob. — (M)LG., (M)Du. krimpen shrink, wrinkle, shrivel = OHG. krimphan (MHG. krimpfen), rel. distantly to OE. (ġe)crympan curl, with which, though it would now be repr. by crimp, there appears to be no continuity. Cf. CRAMP 1.
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Cite this article
T. F. HOAD. "crimp." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "crimp." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-crimp.html T. F. HOAD. "crimp." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-crimp.html |
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crimp
crimp
•amp, camp, champ, clamp, cramp, damp, encamp, gamp, lamp, ramp, samp, scamp, stamp, tamp, tramp, vamp
•firedamp • headlamp • wheel clamp
•sidelamp • spotlamp • blowlamp
•sunlamp
•hemp, kemp, temp
•blimp, chimp, crimp, gimp, imp, limp, pimp, primp, scrimp, shrimp, simp, skimp, wimp
•chomp, clomp, comp, pomp, romp, stomp, swamp, tromp, whomp, yomp
•bump, chump, clump, crump, dump, flump, frump, gazump, grump, hump, jump, lump, outjump, plump, pump, rump, scrump, slump, stump, sump, thump, trump, tump, ump, whump
•ski-jump • showjump • handpump
•mugwump
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Cite this article
"crimp." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "crimp." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-crimp.html "crimp." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-crimp.html |
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