CRAMBO

crambo, an old rhyming game which, according to strutt (_sports and pastimes_), was played as early as the 14th century under the name of the _abc of aristotle_. in the days of the stuarts it was very popular, and is frequently mentioned in the writings of the time. thus congreve's _love for love_, i. 1, contains the passage, "get the maids to crambo in an evening, and learn the knack of rhiming." crambo, or capping the rhyme, is now played by one player thinking of a word and telling the others what it rhymes with, the others not naming the actual word they guess but its meaning. thus one says "i know a word that rhymes with _bird_." a second asks "is it ridiculous?" "no, it is not absurd." "is it a part of speech?" "no, it is not a word." this proceeds until the right word is guessed. in _dumb crambo_ the guessers, instead of naming the word, express its meaning by dumb show, a rhyme being given them as a clue.