Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Cripple \Crip"ple\, [Local. U. S.]
   (a) Swampy or low wet ground, often covered with brush or
       with thickets; bog.

             The flats or cripple land lying between high- and
             low-water lines, and over which the waters of the
             stream ordinarily come and go.       --Pennsylvania
                                                  Law Reports.
   (b) A rocky shallow in a stream; -- a lumberman's term.

Cripple \Crip"ple\ (kr[i^]p"p'l), a.
   Lame; halting. [R.] ``The cripple, tardy-gaited night.''
   --Shak.

Cripple \Crip"ple\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Crippled} (-p'ld); p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Crippling} (-pl?ng).]
   1. To deprive of the use of a limb, particularly of a leg or
      foot; to lame.

            He had crippled the joints of the noble child. --Sir
                                                  W. Scott.

   2. To deprive of strength, activity, or capability for
      service or use; to disable; to deprive of resources; as,
      to be financially crippled.

            More serious embarrassments . . . were crippling the
            energy of the settlement in the Bay.  --Palfrey.

            An incumbrance which would permanently cripple the
            body politic.                         --Macaulay.

Cripple \Crip"ple\ (kr[i^]p"p'l), n. [OE. cripel, crepel,
   crupel, AS. crypel (akin to D. kreuple, G. kr["u]ppel, Dan.
   kr["o]bling, Icel. kryppill), prop., one that can not walk,
   but must creep, fr. AS. cre['o]pan to creep. See {Creep}.]
   One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never
   had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one
   who is partially disabled.

         I am a cripple in my limbs; but what decays are in my
         mind, the reader must determine.         --Dryden.

Source : WordNet®

cripple
     n : someone whose legs are disabled
     v 1: deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or
          worthless; "This measure crippled our efforts"; "Their
          behavior stultified the boss's hard work" [syn: {stultify}]
     2: deprive of the use of a limb, especially a leg; "The
        accident has crippled her for life" [syn: {lame}]