Sekirov Dictionary

crank

UK /kɹænk/US /kɹæŋk/

noun 15
verb 7
adjective 6
forms 6
phrases 6

noun15

•
(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.
•
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.
Clipping of crankshaft.
•
(informal) An ill-tempered or nasty person.
- Billy-Bob is a nasty old crank! He chased my cat away.
•
(informal) A person who is considered strange or odd by others, and may behave in unconventional ways.
- John is a crank because he talks to himself.
•
(US, slang) Synonym of methamphetamine.
- Danny got abscesses from shooting all that bathtub crank.
•
The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft.
- Yes, a crank was all it needed to start.
- Give it a forceful crank.
•
(slang) The penis.
- It was going to be hard not to blow with a girl like her sucking on his crank. — 2013
A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim;
•
A fit of temper or passion.
- Violent of temper; subject to sudden cranks. — 1858
•
(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, — 1645
(dialect) An ailment, ache.
(slang, no longer used) A baseball fan.
•
(no longer used) Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.
- So many turning cranks these have, so many crooks. — 1596
•
(no longer used) A sick person; an invalid.
- Thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater. — 1624

verb7

•
To turn by means of a crank.
- Motorists had to crank their engine by hand.
•
To turn a crank.
- He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
•
To turn.
- He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
•
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
- Crank it up!
•
To be running at a high level of output or effort.
- By one hour into the shift, the boys were really cranking.
•
To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining.
- Quit cranking about your spilt milk!
•
(old-fashioned) To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.
- See how this river comes me cranking in. — 1597

adjective6

(informal) Strange; weird; odd.
•
Liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast.
- This ship is so crank and walty I fear our grave she will be! — 1863
•
Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated.
- He who was a little before bedred[…]was now cranke and lustie. — 1548
Sick; unwell.
(dialect) Bent; twisted; crooked; distorted; out of repair.
(dialect) Hard; difficult.

forms

cranked · crunk · cranking · cranks · cranker · crankest

Phrases with crank

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