[f. CRIMP v.2 + -ING1.]
1. The decoying and confining of men, in order to force them into the army, navy, or merchant service: see CRIMP sb.1 2.
1795. Hull Advertiser, 26 Sept., 4/2. We are sorry to find that the infamous practice of Crimping is not yet put a stop to.
1806. Weekly Polit. Rev., 27 Dec., 946. Men … who do not possess the necessary rascality for crimping.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 336. This demand was partly supplied by a system of crimping and kidnapping at the principal English seaports.
2. attrib. and Comb., as in crimping system; crimping-house, a house constructed or used for crimping seamen or soldiers.
1795. Hull Advertiser, 18 July, 2/3. A false impression … of persons being kidnapped in a Crimping-house.
1828. New Sailor’s Mag., 150. All the ramifications of the crimping system in London were then developed.
1858. Polson, Law & L., 148. A mob assembled in Holborn, threatening to pull down a Crimping-house.
