Bible Dictionary
CRIPPLE
A cripple was a person unable to walk normally because of a physical disability. Acts 14 describes a man at Lystra who had been lame from birth and was healed through Paul’s ministry.
Definition
A cripple is a person whose body is disabled or unable to walk normally. The older English spelling was “creeple,” referring to one whose body is bent as in creeping.
Biblical Usage
The term describes the man at Lystra who had been lame from birth and was healed through Paul’s ministry.
Historical Background
The condition is identified in the source as probably infantile paralysis.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>krip'-'-l (cholos): Only occurs in Ac 14:8, denoting the congenitally lame man at Lystra. In the King James Version (1611) the word is spelled "creeple." It originally meant one whose body is bent together as in the attitude of creeping. This was probably a case of infantile paralysis.</p>