crank
pronunciation
How to pronounce crank in British English:
UK [kræŋk]
How to pronounce crank in American English:
US [kræŋk]
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- Noun:
- a bad-tempered person
- a whimsically eccentric person
- amphetamine used in the form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant
- a hand tool consisting of a rotating shaft with parallel handle
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- Verb:
- travel along a zigzag path
- start by cranking
- rotate with a crank
- fasten with a crank
- bend into the shape of a crank
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- Adjective:
- (used of boats) inclined to heel over easily under sail
Word Origin
- crank
- crank: [OE] There appears to be a link between the words crank, cringe, and crinkle. They share the meaning element ‘bending’ or ‘curling up’ (which later developed metaphorically into ‘becoming weak or sick’, as in the related German krank ‘ill’), and probably all came from a prehistoric Germanic base *krank-. In Old English the word crank appeared only in the compound crancstoef, the name for a type of implement used by weavers; it is not recorded in isolation until the mid-15th century, when it appears in a Latin-English dictionary as a translation of Latin haustrum ‘winch’.The adjective cranky [18] is no doubt related, but quite how closely is not clear. It may derive from an obsolete thieves’ slang term crank meaning ‘person feigning sickness to gain money’, which may have connections with German krank. Modern English crank ‘cranky person’ is a backformation from the adjective, coined in American English in the 19th century.=> cringe, crinkle
- crank (n.)
- "handle for turning a revolving axis," Old English *cranc, implied in crancstæf "a weaver's instrument," crencestre "female weaver, spinster," from Proto-Germanic base *krank-, and related to crincan "to bend, yield" (see crinkle, cringe). English retains the literal sense of the ancient root, while German and Dutch krank "sick," formerly "weak, small," is from a figurative use. The 1825 supplement to Jamieson's Scottish dictionary has crank "infirm, weak, etc." The sense of "an eccentric person," especially one who is irrationally fixated, is first recorded 1833, said to be from the crank of a barrel organ, which makes it play the same tune over and over; but more likely a back-formation from cranky (q.v.). Meaning "methamphetamine" attested by 1989.
- crank (v.)
- 1590s, "to zig-zag," from crank (n.). Meaning "to turn a crank" is first attested 1908, with reference to automobile engines. Related: Cranked; cranking.
Example
- 1. Some cars have crank handles , or are powered by wood-burning stoves .
- 2. Anyone who still believes that politics will uplift humanity is considered a crank .
- 3. The " fuselage " of the robotic insect was designed to hold a small gm14 motor , crank and wing hinge .
- 4. My folks had just bought a new tan english ford , with a crank handle that you stuck into the front of the engine and turned to start the vehicle .
- 5. Packed inside the smartbird 's torso are the battery , engine and transmission , the crank transmission and control and regulation electronics .