crutch

What it means

1. A device to assist in motion as a cane, especially one that provides support under the arm to reduce weight on a leg.

   He walked on crutches for a month until the cast was removed from his leg.

   2 more examples

   I'll lean upon one crutch, and fight with the other.

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

   Sullen now, with stultified spleen, Mrs Dibble grappled her crutches and levered herself upright after an ungainly struggle.

   1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 150

2. figurativelySomething or someone that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthy dependency; a prop.

   Alcohol became a crutch to help him through the long nights; eventually it killed him.

   1 more example

   Rhyme[…]is […] at best a crutch that lifts the weak alone.

   1710, Edmund Smith, A poem on the death of Mr. John Philips

3. A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.

In a sentence

He walked on crutches for a month until the cast was removed from his leg.

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*ger-“to turn, bend”
2. Proto-Indo-European*grewg-“wrinkle, bend”
3. Proto-Germanic*krukjō“crutch, staff”
4. Proto-West Germanic*krukkju
5. Old Englishcryċċ“crutch, staff”
6. Middle Englishcrucche
7. Englishcrutch

From Middle English crucche, from Old English cryċċ (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krukkju, from Proto-Germanic *krukjō (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“wrinkle, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Scots curche, crutch (“crutch, stilts”), Dutch kruk (“crutch”), Low German krukke, Krück (“crutch”), German Krücke (“crutch”), Swedish krycka (“crutch”). Latin crucia, crucca, croccia, crocia (“crutch”), and its descendants are ultimately from the Germanic.