Sentence:  Voltaire is never so good as when he is ridiculing the cruel folly which <WSD>crimps</WSD> a number of ignorant and innocent peasants, dresses them up in uniform, teaches them to march and wheel, and sends them off to kill and be killed 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To impress (seamen or soldiers); to entrap, to decoy.