crank

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

Old English cranc

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Adjective

crank (comparative cranker, superlative crankest)

  1. (slang) Strange, weird, odd.

[edit] Noun

crank (plural cranks)

  1. A bent piece of an axle, or shaft, or an arm attached at right angles to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a circular action to a wheel or other mechanical device and create power; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion.
    Use the crank on the motorcycle and go for a ride.
  2. The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft.
    Yes, a crank was all it needed to start.
  3. Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Spenser:
      So many turning cranks these have, so many crooks.
  4. (informal) An ill-tempered or nasty person
    Billy-Bob is a nasty, old crank! He chased my cat away.
  5. (US, slang) methamphetamine.
    Danny got abscesses from shooting all that bathtub crank.
  6. (slang, UK, dated in US) A person who is considered strange or odd by others. They may behave in unconventional ways.
    John is a crank because he talks to himself.
    • 1882 January 14, in Pall Mall Gazette:
      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.
  7. (rare) A twist or turn in speech; a conceit consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton:
      Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles.
  8. (nautical) A ship which, because of insufficient or poorly stowed ballast or cargo, is in danger of overturning.

[edit] Translations

bent piece
act of turning a crankshaft
any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage
ill-tempered or nasty person
methamphetamine — see methamphetamine
slang: strange person
twist or turn in speech
ship in danger of overturning

[edit] Verb

crank (third-person singular simple present cranks, present participle cranking, simple past and past participle cranked)

  1. To turn a crank.
    Crank it up!
    He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
  2. To cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank.
    I turn the key and crank the engine; yet it doesn't turn over
  3. To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining.
    Quit cranking about your spilt milk!
  4. To produce or present a desired object.
    Crank out the beer!
  5. (intransitive, dated) To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.
    See how this river comes me cranking in.

[edit] Translations

to turn a crank
to cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank
to act in a cranky manner
to produce or present a desired object

[edit] Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun of verb crank
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