Definition of "crampon" [cram•pon]

• A hinged pair of curved iron bars for raising heavy objects, such as stones or timber. Often used in the plural. (noun)
• A spiked iron or steel framework that is attached to the bottom of a shoe or boot to prevent slipping when walking or climbing on ice and snow. Often used in the plural. Also called climbing iron. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Each man was to go on a different food scale, eiderdown sleeping-bags were to be carried inside the reindeer ones, and a new kind of crampon and a double tent were to be tried."
• "After another hour of rigorous scrambling, we strapped on metal crampon spikes for the steepest part -- the summit block and its treacherous snowfields."
• "I dumped my pack—with the unused rope, ax and crampon—and headed up."