sprain
/spɹeɪn/ verb, noun
Forms sprains spraining sprained
- verb To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation “He sprained his knee after falling off the bicycle.”
- noun The act or result of spraining; lameness caused by spraining “a bad sprain of the wrist”
Synonyms
Etymology
Origin unknown. Noun attested since 1601; verb attested 1622. Possibly borrowed from Middle French espraindre (“to squeeze or press out”), from Latin exprimere (“to squeeze out, express”), in which case cognate to express.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation; as, to sprain one's ankle.
- noun The act or result of spraining; lameness caused by spraining; as, a bad sprain of the wrist. Sprain fracture (Med.), the separation of a tendon from its point of insertion, with the detachment of a shell of bone to which the tendon is attached.
Etymology [OF. espreindreto press, to force out, F. épreindre, fr. L. exprimere. See Express, v. t., and cf. Spraints.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sprain”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details