Dictionary

cran en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Evidently from, or at least influenced by Goidelic; compare Scottish Gaelic crann (“lot, measure of herring, tree, etc.”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A measure of herrings, either imprecise or sometimes legally specified. It has oftentimes been about 37½ imperial gallons, or ~750 herrings on average (up to 1200 or even ~2500).
   • […] And fish the knolls on the North Sea Holes And try your luck at the North Shields Gut With a catch of a hundred cran. 1960, Ewan MacColl, BBC radio ballad, Singing the Fishing:
   • Very flattering indeed has been the success of the fishermen; and many boats have come in loaded, averaging thirty or forty crans each (every cran estimated at 1,000 herrings), and disposed of their cargoes at nine shillings per cran; but the price has been since raised to fifteen shillings. 1800 Dec, Sir Richard Phillips, The Monthly magazine, volume 10, number 66, page 486:
   • His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish, / Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish. 1938, Louis MacNeice, Bagpipe Music:
   • But I've fished a lifetime, boy and man, And the final trawl scarcely makes a cran. 1970s, Archie Fisher, The Final Trawl:
2. (broadly, obsolete, rare) A barrel made to hold such a measure.

Forms

cran en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. An embellishment played on a chanter of a bagpipe or a tin whistle, consisting of a series of grace notes produced by rapid sequential lifting of the fingers.

Forms

cran en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of qiran.
   alt of qiran

Forms

Relateds

vodka cran