charley horses

plural of charley horse
as in cramps
a painful sudden tightening of a muscle had to stop and rest because of a charley horse in his leg

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for charley horses
Noun
  • An April report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked nearly 17,000 Shigella samples, which causes Shigellosis, which and can bring on diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, collected between 2011 and 2023.
    — Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Richland lost a 45-42 heartbreaker to Highland Park at Birdville FA/AC after UCLA commit Jayshon Gibson — who piled up 273 rushing yards and five total touchdowns — left the game with cramps late in the fourth quarter.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Omelchenko appreciates the study authors’ ability to translate math to real life but notes that fully evaluating the possibilities of new stitches by using torus diagrams would be impractically expensive to compute.
    — Emma Gometz, Scientific American, 8 Oct. 2026
  • The blow caused a minor skull fracture and a gash that required three stitches to close.
    — Roni Jacobson, New York Daily News, 25 Sep. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Charley horses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/charley%20horses. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster