/kɹæŋk/ New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore
/kɹæŋk/ (Inland-Northern-American)
/kɹɛŋk/ (New-Zealand)
/kɹæŋk/ Western US, Midland US, Western Pennsylvania, New England
/kɹeɪŋk/ Western US, Midland US, Western Pennsylvania, New England
/kɹænk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Dutch or Low German krank, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *krank, from Proto-Germanic *krangaz, *krankaz (“bent; weak”). Cognate with Scots crank, krank, German krank (“sick”).
Meanings
(dialectal) Hard; difficult.
(informal) Strange; weird; odd.
(dialectal) Bent; twisted; crooked; distorted; out of repair.
Sick; unwell.
(of a ship) Liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast.
The stowage was clumsily done, and the vessel consequently crank. 1833, Edgar Allan Poe, MS. Found in a Bottle:
This ship is so crank and walty
I fear our grave she will be! 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Phantom Ship:
Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated.
He who was a little before bedred[…]was now cranke and lustie. 1548, Nicolas Udall, The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente:
If you strong electioners did not think you were among the elect, you would not be so crank about it. 1856, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Dred, A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp:
/kɹæŋk/ New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore
/kɹæŋk/ (Inland-Northern-American)
/kɹɛŋk/ (New-Zealand)
/kɹæŋk/ Western US, Midland US, Western Pennsylvania, New England
/kɹeɪŋk/ Western US, Midland US, Western Pennsylvania, New England
/kɹænk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Dutch or Low German krank, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *krank, from Proto-Germanic *krangaz, *krankaz (“bent; weak”). Cognate with Scots crank, krank, German krank (“sick”).
Meanings
(dialectal) An ailment, ache.
(informal) An ill-tempered or nasty person.
Billy-Bob is a nasty old crank! He chased my cat away.
A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim;
A fit of temper or passion.
Violent of temper; subject to sudden cranks. 1858–1865, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
(UK, dated, in US, informal) A person who is considered strange or odd by others, and may behave in unconventional ways.
Persons whom the Americans since Guiteau’s trial have begun to designate as ‘cranks’—that is to say, persons of disordered mind, in whom the itch of notoriety supplies the lack of any higher ambition. 1882 January 14, Pall Mall Gazette:
But do you know what isn't in the school books? That old Rossum was mad. Seriously, Miss Glory, you must keep this to yourself. The old crank wanted to actually make people. c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1:
The raw meat cranks are in dead earnest. They think that raw food is the manna of heaven. 1901 July 19, “Gleanings”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record, volume 4, number 10, page 318:
John is a crank because he talks to himself.
(informal) An amateur in science or other technical subjects who persistently advocates flawed theories.
That crank next door thinks he’s created cold fusion in his garage.
(archaic, slang) A baseball fan.
(obsolete) A sick person; an invalid.
Thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater. 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
/kɹæŋk/ New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore
/kɹæŋk/ (Inland-Northern-American)
/kɹɛŋk/ (New-Zealand)
/kɹæŋk/ Western US, Midland US, Western Pennsylvania, New England
/kɹeɪŋk/ Western US, Midland US, Western Pennsylvania, New England
/kɹænk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Middle English crank, cronk, from a shortening of Old English crancstæf (“weaving tool, crank”, literally “bent or crooked staff”), the first element ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.
Meanings
A bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an attached arm perpendicular, or nearly so, to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation to a wheel or other mechanical device; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion.
I grind my coffee by hand with a coffee grinder with a crank handle.
(abbreviation, alt-of, clipping) A bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an attached arm perpendicular, or nearly so, to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation to a wheel or other mechanical device; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion. ▸ Clipping of crankshaft.
The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft.
Give it a forceful crank.
Yes, a crank was all it needed to start.
By comparison, consider the conductor of a double-decked Blackpool tram on August Monday, who hurries up and down stairs to a hundred or more passengers and serves each one by a simple crank of a handle. 1964 November, E. N. Bellass, “Some questions for Mr. Mugliston”, in Modern Railways, page 330:
(archaic) Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.
So many turning cranks these have, so many crooks. 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, The Cantos of Mutabilitie Canto 7
(US, slang) Synonym of methamphetamine.
Danny got abscesses from shooting all that bathtub crank.
(rare) A twist or turn in speech; word play consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word.
Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles, a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 31:
(slang) The penis.
It was going to be hard not to blow with a girl like her sucking on his crank. 2013, Reggie Chesterfield, Scoundrel, page 57:
fi känkkäränkkä (ill-tempered or nasty person) · fi veivaus (act of turning a crankshaft) · tr kolu çevirme (act of turning a crankshaft) · nl zwengel (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · fr original (slang: strange person) · ru кривоши́п (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · pdt Krenkj (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · fi kampi (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · de Sonderling (slang: strange person) · fi veivaaminen (act of turning a crankshaft) · es rabil (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · ar مِرْفَق (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · hu kurbli (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · ro învârtire (act of turning a crankshaft) · nrf chanolle (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · bg чудак (slang: strange person) · sh čudàkinja (ill-tempered or nasty person) · es cascarrabias (ill-tempered or nasty person) · tr kelime oyunu (twist or turn in speech) · fi käänne (twist or turn in speech) · nl aluhoedje (pseudoscience advocate) · fi mutka (any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage) · sv vev (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · de Kurbeln (act of turning a crankshaft) · sv original (slang: strange person) · tr kimse (slang: strange person) · es maniático (ill-tempered or nasty person) · eo kranko (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · nl krukas (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · cmn 民科 (pseudoscience advocate) · es biela (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · el στρόφαλος (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · nl complotdenker (pseudoscience advocate) · ro maniac (ill-tempered or nasty person) · fr manivelle (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · ru поворо́т (any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage) · nb sveiv (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · ru фрик (pseudoscience advocate) · bg манивела (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · de Spinner (slang: strange person) · mk ку́рбла (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · it manovella (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · ca maneta (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · cmn 曲柄 (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · es rotar (act of turning a crankshaft) · pt manivela (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · ru изги́б (any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage) · sk kľuka (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · el λοξίας (ill-tempered or nasty person) · fi veivi (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · fi kääkkä (ill-tempered or nasty person) · tr huysuz (ill-tempered or nasty person) · de Miesepeter (ill-tempered or nasty person) · ru крюк (any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage) · es girar (act of turning a crankshaft) · sv vevning (act of turning a crankshaft) · el μονομανής (ill-tempered or nasty person) · bg темерут (ill-tempered or nasty person) · es manivela (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · es cigüeñuela (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · de wunderlicher Kauz (slang: strange person) · es curva (any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage) · tr manivela (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · fi veivaus (twist or turn in speech) · ro rotire (act of turning a crankshaft) · de Kurbel (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · sv fåne (slang: strange person) · tr acaip (slang: strange person) · vi giò đĩa (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · fi kränkkä (ill-tempered or nasty person) · mk чу́дак (slang: strange person) · ru чуда́к (slang: strange person) · tr kol (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · ga crangaid (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · fi kampeaminen (act of turning a crankshaft) · ro manivelă coarbă (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · mk на́мќор (ill-tempered or nasty person) · cmn 民間科學家 /民间科学家 (pseudoscience advocate) · bg коляно (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · es dar vuelta a (act of turning a crankshaft) · sh čùdāk (ill-tempered or nasty person) · sv krök (any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage) · cs klika (a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an arm attached to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation) · mk вр́тење (act of turning a crankshaft) · fr tordu (slang: strange person)
/kɹæŋk/ New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore
/kɹæŋk/ (Inland-Northern-American)
/kɹɛŋk/ (New-Zealand)
/kɹæŋk/ Western US, Midland US, Western Pennsylvania, New England
/kɹeɪŋk/ Western US, Midland US, Western Pennsylvania, New England
/kɹænk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Middle English crank, cronk, from a shortening of Old English crancstæf (“weaving tool, crank”, literally “bent or crooked staff”), the first element ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.
Meanings
(transitive) To turn by means of a crank.
Motorists had to crank their engine by hand.
(intransitive) To turn a crank.
He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
(intransitive, of a crank or similar) To turn.
He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
(transitive) To cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank.
Crank it up!
I turn the key and crank the engine; yet it doesn't turn over
(intransitive) To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining.
Quit cranking about your spilt milk!
(intransitive) To be running at a high level of output or effort.
When we were playing at the top of our ability and really cranking, the whole thing could sound like a jet plane taking off in the club. 2009, Mike Edison, I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, ...:
expected that the NVA and VC were in a position to dish out what they're dishing out, and the rumor mill is really cranking overtime. 2011, P. L. Nelson, The Incessant Voice of War: The Black Rose Conspiracies, page 64:
Better computers use variable speed fans so they run at top speed only when the computer is really cranking 2009, Carol Baroudi, Jeffrey Hill, Arnold Reinhold, Green IT For Dummies:
By one hour into the shift, the boys were really cranking.
(dated, intransitive) To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.
See how this river comes me cranking in. c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
cranks
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
crunk
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
dialectal
lexicographic
crunk
Tense=Past
dialectal
lexicographic
cranking
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
cranked
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
cranked
Tense=Past
lexicographic
Deriveds
crank arm (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · bell crank (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankle (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank pin (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank off (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank shaft (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · noncranking (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · turn someone's crank (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank angle (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankery (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankhandle (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank start (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank wheel (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank call (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · bellcrank (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · cranky (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankpin (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankweb (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank handle (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank science (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankbait (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankshaft (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · flycrank (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankman (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank out (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankwalk (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank up (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank it (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank the handle (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankless (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank axle (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank one out (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankstart (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · overcrank (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankset (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank one's hog (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank caller (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank angle degree (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crankcase (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank bug (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · hand crank (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · undercrank (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)) · crank the hog (terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech))
Translations (14)
nl aanzwengelen (to turn by means of a crank) · fi kammeta (to turn a crank) · fi pyörittää (to cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank) · fi veivata (to turn a crank) · de kurbeln (to turn a crank) · fi valittaa (to act in a cranky manner) · fi pyöräyttää (to produce or present a desired object) · nb sveive (to turn a crank) · sk vypeckovať (to turn a crank) · sk roztociť (to turn a crank) · fi marmattaa (to act in a cranky manner) · de ankurbeln (to turn by means of a crank) · nl zwengelen (to turn a crank) · sv veva (to turn a crank)