crambo en · NOUN
Etymology
* Perhaps related to cramp (“difficult”) (adjective). * Perhaps from Latin crambe repetita (“cabbage served up again”).
Meanings
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(uncountable) A guessing game in which players guess words that rhyme with a clue word, seeking a word that is kept secret or concealed.
I saw in one corner […] a cluster of men and women, diverting themselves with a game at crambo. I heard several double rhymes […] which raised a great deal of mirth.
1711 May 22 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, May 12, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 63; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
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(countable) A word rhyming with another word.
His similes in order set And every crambo he could get.
1720, Jonathan Swift, To Stella, on transcribing his Poems:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| cramboes | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| crambos | Number=Plur | lexicographic |