crutch

noun

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.”

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

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

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

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

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

3. A crotch; the area of body where the legs fork from the trunk.
4. A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.
5. A knee, or piece of knee timber.
6. A forked stanchion or post; a crotch.
7. (slang)An improvised device, usually made from a piece of cardboard, to hold the last end of a joint.

verb

1. (transitive)To support on crutches; to prop up.

   “[I'll] haſten Og and Doeg to rehearſe, / Tvvo Fools that Crutch their Feeble Senſe on Verſe; / VVho by my Muſe to all ſucceeding times, / Shall live in ſpight of their ovvn Dogrell Rhimes.”

2. (intransitive)To move on crutches.
3. (transitive)To shear the hindquarters of a sheep; to dag.

   “After learning how to crutch at 13, he could dag 400 sheep in a day by the spring of 1965 and earned himself more than just a bit of pocket money.”

4. (transitive)to stir with a crutch.