crank
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹæŋk/
rhymes: -æŋk
Forms: form: cranks
form: cranking
form: cranked
form: cranked
form: crunk
form: crunk
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.
Senses: examples: text: Motorists had to crank their engine by hand.
glosses: To turn by means of a crank.
examples: text: He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
glosses: To turn a crank.
examples: text: He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
glosses: To turn.
raw_tags: of a crank or similar
examples: text: I turn the key and crank the engine; yet it doesn't turn over
text: Crank it up!
glosses: To cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank.
examples: text: Quit cranking about your spilt milk!
glosses: To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining.
examples: text: By one hour into the shift, the boys were really cranking.
text: Better computers use variable speed fans so they run at top speed only when the computer is really cranking
ref: 2009, Carol Baroudi, Jeffrey Hill, Arnold Reinhold, Green IT For Dummies:
text: 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.
ref: 2009, Mike Edison, I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, ...:
text: 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.
ref: 2011, P. L. Nelson, The Incessant Voice of War: The Black Rose Conspiracies, page 64:
glosses: To be running at a high level of output or effort.
examples: text: See how this river comes me cranking in.
ref: 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]:
glosses: To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: bell crank
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: bellcrank
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank angle
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank angle degree
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank arm
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank axle
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankbait
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank bug
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank call
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank caller
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankcase
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankery
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank handle
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankhandle
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank it
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankle
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankless
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankman
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank off
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank one out
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank one's hog
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank out
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank pin
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankpin
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank science
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankset
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankshaft
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank shaft
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankstart
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank start
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank the handle
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank the hog
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank up
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crankwalk
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: crank wheel
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: cranky
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: flycrank
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: hand crank
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: noncranking
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: overcrank
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: turn someone's crank
sense: terms derived from "crank" (all parts of speech)
word: undercrank