charley horse
Appearance
See also: charleyhorse
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]The term may date back to American slang of the 1880s, and is possibly from the pitcher Charlie "Old Hoss" Radbourn, who is said to have suffered from cramps.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]charley horse (plural charley horses)
- (idiomatic, US) A muscle cramp, usually a strong one, in the thigh, leg, arm, or core.
- Hypernym: cramp
- 1914, Ralph Henry Barbour, Left End Edwards[1]:
- Of course there had been plenty of bruises—one mild case of charley-horse, several dislocated or sprained fingers, a wrenched ankle or two and any number of cuts and scrapes, […]
- (informal) A punch in the thigh.
- 2006, Joe L. Kincheloe, The Praeger Handbook of Urban Education, volume 1, page 324:
- I knew to just keep my mouth shut about it — unless I wanted the word "dummy" to be followed by a charley horse.
Translations
[edit]a muscle cramp, usually in the thigh or leg
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References
[edit]- ^ Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Charley horse”, in World Wide Words.
Further reading
[edit]- charley horse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia