| 释义 |
▪ I. crank, n.1|kræŋk|
Forms: 1 cranc-, 5–7 cranke, 7– crank.
[OE. cranc in cranc-stæf, ME. crank(e, a word rarely exemplified before the 17th c. App. an ablaut-derivative of the vb. crinc-an, cranc, crunc-en, found (but very rare) in OE. as a by-form of cring-an, crang, crung-en to fall in battle, of which the primitive meaning appears to have been ‘to draw oneself together in a bent form, to contract oneself stiffly, curl up’. These verbs are not known elsewhere in Teutonic; but numerous derivatives occur in the other languages, connected with the two notions of ‘to bend together, crook, curl up’, and ‘to shrink, give way, become weak or ill’. Eng. crank belongs to the literal sense-group, with the primary notion of something bent together or crooked; Ger. and Du. krank adj. ‘sick’, formerly ‘weak, slight, small,’ shows the figurative development.]
1. A portion of an axis bent at right angles, used to communicate motion, or to change reciprocal into rotary motion, or the converse.
a. In early times chiefly used as a handle or treadle to turn a revolving axis by hand or foot.
c1000Gerefa in Anglia IX. 263 Wulcamb, cip, amb, crancstæf. c1440Promp. Parv. 100 Cranke, instrument, cirillus (K.H.P. girgillus [= a reel for winding thread]). Ibid. Cranke of a welle, haustrum, haustra. 1617Minsheu Ductor, The Cranke or winch of a Well, L. Haustrum. 1660D'Acres Water Drawing 11 Winches or cranks of wood or iron are also fitted to men's hands, thereby to make a round motion. 1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. x. 188 [The fly wheel of the lathe] hath an iron axis with a Crook or Cranck at one end. 1703Ibid. 233 Crank, the end of an Iron Axis turned Square down, and again turned Square to the first turning down, so that on the last turning down a Leather Thong is slipt, to Tread the Treddle-wheel about. 1734Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 403 A crank [of a pump] does not rise quite one third of its circle. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Crank, (1) the handle of a turnip-slicer, a ‘blower’, a grindstone, or any similar machine.
b. Later, as a device for converting circular into reciprocal motion, and now chiefly (as in the steam engine) reciprocal into circular motion.
1727–51Chambers Cycl., Crank, a contrivance in machines in manner of an elbow..projecting out from an axis or spindle, and serving by its rotation to raise and fall the pistons of engines for raising water. 1731H. Beighton in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 6 A quadruple Crank of cast iron. 1766Specif. Barber's Patent No. 865. 6 Three cylinders..work a treble or other crank. 1771Watt Let. in Muirhead W.'s Mech. Invent. (1854) II. 17 A crank of a sufficient sweep will be by much the sweetest motion. 1780Specif. Pickard's Patent No. 1263 A. B. represents a lever commonly called a crank..the pin of which crank is inserted into the end of a spear or carrier. 1862Smiles Engineers III. 85 The connecting-rods gave the motion to two pinions by cranks at right angles to each other.
attrib.1808Watt in Muirhead W.'s Mech. Invent. III. 37 The true inventor of the crank rotative motion was the man..that first contrived the common foot lathe.
2. An elbow-shaped device in bell-hanging, whereby the rectilineal motion communicated to a bell-wire is changed in its direction, usually at right angles, as from horizontal to vertical or the reverse.
1759Mountaine in Phil. Trans. LI. 288, I found the bell-wire..to be intirely melted..but the effect ceased at the crank, which transmitted it to the chamber adjoining.
3. An elbow-shaped support or bracket.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Crank, is an iron brace which supports the lanthorns on the poop-quarters, etc. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 201 A semi-cylinder of wirework, balanced in its proper situation by means of two arms, or cranks. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 112 Cranks, pieces of iron shaped as an elbow, etc., and attached to the beams of the quarter-deck for the capstan-bars to be stowed thereon.
4. A machine for the punishment of criminals sentenced to hard labour, consisting of a revolving disc to which a regulated pressure can be applied, and which the prisoner is required to turn a certain number of times each day.
18472nd Rep. Surveyor of Prisons 12 Means should exist of rendering the discipline..more stringent..by placing crank machinery in the cells. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Crank, (2) a machine used in some prisons for finding employment for refractory prisoners. There was one in the now disused prison at Kirton-in-Lindsey.
5. Sc. = cramp n.2 4 b.
1825–79Jamieson, Crank, an iron guard for the feet in curling, to prevent sliding on the ice. Roxb.
6. Comb., as crank-arm; crank-and-comb, a contrivance for stripping the carded cotton from a carding-engine; crank-axle, (a) the driving-axle of an engine or machine; (b) a carriage axle with the ends bent twice at a right angle, so as to lower the carriage-body and yet allow the use of large wheels (see cranked); crank-case, the case or covering in which the crank-shaft of a motor engine is enclosed; crank-chamber (see quot. 1902); crank-hatches (see quot.); crank-hook, the rod which connects the treadle and the crank in a foot-lathe; crank-pin, the pin by which the connecting-rod is attached to the crank; crank-shaft, the shaft driven by a crank; crank-wheel, a wheel which acts as a crank; esp. one having near its circumference a pin to which the end of a connecting-rod is attached as to a crank-pin; a disc-crank.
1836Ure Cotton Manuf. II. 35 This is the *crank-and-comb contrivance..This elegant instrument takes off the cotton in a fine transparent fleece.
1889P. N. Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. ii. 14 The bed-plate is..cut away to allow the *crank-arm and cross-head to pass. 1911Encycl. Brit. XVII. 1005/1 In a turning piece, the perpendicular let fall from its connected point upon its axis of rotation is the arm or crank-arm. 1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 25/1 A flexible brush should be used to brush away any dust..at both ends of the crank arms.
1725Desaguliers Exp. Philos. (1744) II. 516 [The wheels] are fitted to *crank axles, by which improvement the [Fire] engine runs upon larger Wheels, without raising the Cistern. 1887Bury & Hillier Cycling (Badm. Libr.) 377 Geared by chains to fixed pulleys on the crank-axle.
1878Technol. Dict. (ed. 3) 175/2 *Crank-case, das Kurbelhelft, das Kurbelfutteral. 1900Autocar 29 Sept. 932/2 Working upon a pin secured to the crank case, is a second and larger pinion wheel. 1904Motor Boat 29 Sept. 228/1 Lamp oil is a rather imprudent thing to carry aboard, as some unwise friend may mistake it for engine lubricant and put a charge or two into the crank-case. 1920Cornhill Mag. Sept. 311 For forgetting to put any oil in the crank-case, he was stopped fourteen days' pay. 1949Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) 11 Crankcase sump, that portion of the engine in which lubricating oil is collected and led to the oil pumping system.
1902A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors vii. 135 The *crank chamber, or base chamber, as it is usually termed, forms the base of the cylinder. 1904Motor Boat 22 Sept. 215/2 Each cylinder has a bore of 90 mm{ddd}; both are cast together..and are mounted on a cast iron crank chamber. 1922Times 20 June 8/5 The cylinders are cast in one with the crank-chamber, a practice forgivable in a low-priced chassis.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Crank-hatches are raised coamings on a steamer's deck, to form coverings for the cranks of the engines below.
1839R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 86 The *crank pin is of wrought-iron. 1850Weale Dict. Terms, Crank-pin, the cylindrical piece joining the ends of the crank-arms, and attached to the connecting-rod, or, in vibrating engines, to the piston-rod: if the crank has only one arm, the pin projects from the end of it.
1854Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 147 The rotation of the *crank-shaft will put in motion the bevel-wheels.
1794Rigging & Seamanship 54 *Crank-wheel, for spinning of lines, box-cord, etc. is fixed on an iron spindle.
▸ slang (orig. U.S.). An amphetamine drug, esp. methamphetamine.
1969Etc. June 173 Crank, crink, cris, cristina—methamphetamine in powdered form. 1986D. M. Martin in D. M. Martin & P. Y. Sussman Committing Journalism (1993) i. 40 Honey Bear was known to shoot a load of ‘crank’ and go walking down a tier advertising favors at every cell he passed. 1996Afro-Amer. Red Star (Electronic ed.) 30 Mar. a1 Widespread smoking of crank was at one time restricted to Mexico and Hawaii, but is now prevalent on the West Coast. 2003Time Out N.Y. 3 Apr. 155/1 Methamphetamine was created in the Land of the Rising Sun in 1919, but the good ol' U. S. of A. has perfected crank and turned it into a booming industry.
▪ II. crank, n.2|kræŋk|
Also 6–7 cranck(e.
[Of the same origin as prec., and possibly the same word, with the original sense ‘crooking, crook’; but the two words had been differentiated before the earliest instances of this.]
1. a. A crook, bend, winding, meandering; a winding or crooked path, course, or channel.
1572J. Jones Bathes Buckstone 12 a, Bowling in allayes..eyther in playne or longe allayes, or in suche as haue Cranckes with halfe bowles. 1580North Plutarch (1676) 7 How he might easily wind out of the turnings and cranks of the Labyrinth. Ibid. 846 Aratus..was out of his path he should have found..and with many crooks and cranks went to the foot of the Castle. 1596Spenser F.Q. vii. vii. 52 So many turning cranks these [the planets] have, so many crookes. 1600Holland Livy xxii. xxxv. 413 a, [Anniball] woon the verie tops of the Alpes, through by-lanes and blind crankes. 1607Shakes. Cor. i. i. 141. 1612 Two Noble K. i. ii. 28 Meet you no ruin but the soldier in The cranks and turns of Thebes? c1630Risdon Surv. Devon (1810) 63 Exe..runneth a long course with his crooked cranks. 1909M. B. Saunders Litany Lane i. v, A glimpse..of grey west tower half hidden by high buildings, then reappearing by some quaint crank of street or turning.
†b. fig. A crooked or deceitful way; a deceit, wile, sleight. Obs.
1588J. Harvey Disc. Prophecies 68 To occupie..the commons..by flimflams, wily cranks, and sleightie knacks of the maker. 1614D. Dyke Myst. Selfe-Deceiving (1615) 16 A cunning cranke of deepe and devilish deceitfulnesse. 1643Milton Divorce Introd., The waies of the Lord, strait and faithfull..not full of cranks and contradictions.
†2.
a. A tortuous or somewhat inaccessible hole or crevice; a cranny. Obs.
b. Sometimes used as = Chink, crevice, crack: but prob. by confusion with crack and cranny.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 217 Suche crankis, such cony holes. 1601Holland Pliny II. 274 The root is giuen to haue cranks and holes, and those full of mud or durt. 1612W. Parkes Curtaine-Dr. (1876) 18 Exclude the light from the crankes and cranies of our chambers.
b.1552Huloet, Crannye or cranke in an earthen potte, ignea. 1861Mrs. Norton Lady La G. Prol. 47 There daylight peeps through many a crank.
c. fig.
1610Healey Vives' Comm. St. Aug. Citie of God (1620) 74 There is no cranke, no secret, in all these tongues, but he hath searcht it out. 1627–77Feltham Resolves i. 83 (T.) The politick heart is too full of cranks and angles for the discovery of a plain familiar.
3. A twist or fanciful turn of speech; a humorous turn, a verbal trick or conceit. Usually in phr. quips and cranks, after Milton. Also, anything fantastic in behaviour, gesture, or action.
15942nd Rep. Faustus in Thoms Pr. Rom. (1858) III. 338 Such cranks, such lifts, careers and gambalds. 1632Milton L'Allegro 25 Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles. 1755Johnson, Crank..3. Any conceit formed by twisting or changing, in any manner, the form or meaning of a word. 1805Moore To Lady H. v, To play at riddles, quips, and cranks. 1820Shelley Witch Atlas li. 5 Many quips and cranks She played upon the water. 1873Dixon Two Queens IV. xix. vi. 37 Wolsey was driven to quips and cranks which made the King suspect him.
4. An eccentric notion or action; a mental twist put into practice; a crotchet, whim, caprice.
1848Lytton Harold 130 These be new cranks, with a vengeance; we shall be choosing German or Saracen or Norman next. 18..Carlyle (Webster Suppl.), Subject to sudden cranks; a headlong, very positive, loud, dull, and angry kind of man. 1889Pall Mall G. 7 June 6/1 The son..does not share what he probably deems the ‘crank’ of his sire.
5. colloq. (orig. U.S.). A person with a mental twist; one who is apt to take up eccentric notions or impracticable projects; esp. one who is enthusiastically possessed by a particular crotchet or hobby; an eccentric, a monomaniac. [This is prob. a back-formation from cranky, sense 4.] Also attrib. and Comb.
1833in J. P. Dunn Indiana (1919) II. 1124 Uncle Sam's ‘Old Mother Bank’ Is managed by a foreign crank. 1881Times 22 Dec. 3/4 Guiteau continued, ‘You have got a lot of stuff there. It is not in your handwriting. I guess it must have been contributed by some crank.’ 1882Pall Mall G. 14 Jan. 4/1 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. 1889Longm. Mag. May 28 It is the brightness of enthusiasm. Every crank has such eyes. 1889G. B. Shaw London Music 1888–89 (1937) 264, I moved amidst cranks, Bohemians, unbelievers, agitators, and.. riff-raff of all sorts. 1906Nature 8 Nov. 25/2 A crank is defined as a man who cannot be turned. These men are all cranks. 1924G. B. Stern Tents of Israel vii. 97 Danny remained at his crank school in Hampstead. 1933Dylan Thomas Let. Oct. (1966) 40 Don't think I'm regaling you with some crank-ridden, pornographic notion. 1934H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. I. v. 261 The normal Fabian gathering had a real horror of the ‘currency Crank’, as it termed anyone who ventured to say that money has ways and tricks of its own. 1949Koestler Promise & Fulf. ii. v. 274 More crank visitors. Among them a German who cures diseases by soul-waves and mana. 1961M. Spark Prime of Miss Jean Brodie i. 7 It has been suggested again that I should apply for a post at one of the progressive schools... But I shall not apply for a post at a crank school. 1968D. Hopkinson Incense-Tree iii. 29 As I went to a crank school, it followed that some of the parents of my friends should be cranks.
6. dial. [App. belongs chiefly to this word, with sense of ‘something wrong’ (cf. wrong from wring to twist, F. tort:—L. tortus); but a physical comparison of pains or spasms to crank action is also possible.]
1847–78in Halliwell. 1888Berkshire Gloss., Cranks, aches and slight ailments. A person is said to be full of ‘crinks and cranks’ when generally complaining of ill-health.
▪ III. † crank, n.3 Thieves' slang. Obs.
Also 6 crainke.
[app. a. Du. or Ger. krank sick, ill; also formerly in Ger. as n. ‘one that is sick or ill’. (The 16th c. vagabonds' cant contains words taken directly from continental languages.)]
(In full, counterfeit crank.) A rogue who feigned sickness in order to move compassion and get money.
1567Harman Caveat xi. 51 These that do counterfet the Cranke be yong knaues and yonge harlots, that depely dissemble the falling sicknes. For the Cranke in their language is the falling euyll..There came earely in the morninge a Counterfet Cranke vnder my lodgynge..this Cranke there lamentably lamentinge. a1590Marr. Wit & Wisd. (1846) 13 She sent me the Counterfait crainke for to play. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 167 There are some counterfeit crankes..who vpon some occasion haue by meere knauery fained themselues such. 1621–51Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. vi. 159 Jodocus Damhoderius..hath some notable examples of such counterfeit Cranks. 1622Fletcher Beggar's Bush ii. i, Jarkman, or patrico, cranke, or clapperdudgeon.
▪ IV. crank, n.4 Sc.
[Cf. crank v.2]
A harsh or grating sound.
1786Burns Sc. Drink xviii, When wanting thee, what tuneless cranks Are my poor verses! 1800Gloss. to Burns (Jam.), Crank, the noise of an ungreased wheel.
▪ V. crank, a.1|kræŋk|
Also 6–7 cranck(e.
[Of obscure origin: not easily connected with the other adjs. and ns. of same spelling.]
†1. Rank, lusty, vigorous, in good condition.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. xi. (1495) 396 Snowe nourysshyth and fedyth good herbes, and makyth theym cranke. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark ii. 20 He who was a litle before bedred..was now cranke and lustie. 1659Howell Lexicon To Philologer, [The English language alters] sometimes the sense of the words which she borrows; as she useth crank for being lively and well, whereas 'tis sick in Dutch.
2. Lively, brisk, in high spirits; lusty, sprightly, merry; aggressively high-spirited, disposed to exult or triumph, ‘cocky’. Now dial. and in U.S.
1499Pynson Promp. Parv., Corage or cranke, crassus, coragiosus. c1500Maid Emlyn 290 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 92 She was full ranke, And of condycyons cranke, And redy was alwaye. 1548W. Patten Exped. Scot. in Arb. Garner III. 94 The Scots..showed themselves upon sundry brunts, very crank and brag. 1592Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvii. (1612) 179 Princes Fauours often make the fauored too cranke. 1602Dekker Satiromastix Wks. 1873 I. 234 This Man at Armes has..some friend in a corner, or else hee durst not be so cranke. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Ioyeux, As crank as a Cocke Sparrow. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. xi. §3 (1669) 114/2 Would not our bloud much more grow too rank, and we too cranck and wanton, if we should feed long on such luscious food? a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 I. 112 It becometh them..to be jocund and crank in their humour. a1716South Serm. VI. 21 (T.) How came they to grow so extremely crank and confident? 1736Pegge Kenticisms, Crank, merry, cheery. 1856Mrs. Stowe Dred I. 317 (Bartlett) If you strong electioners didn't think you were among the elect, you wouldn't be so crank about it. 1860Holland Miss Gilbert xxi. 385 We feel pretty crank about having a book writer here in Crampton.
†B. quasi-adv. Boldly, briskly, lustily. Obs.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 46 As cocke on his dunghill, crowing cranck. 1594Carew Tasso (1881) 102 Since thee he mates so cranke.
▪ VI. crank, a.2 Naut.|kræŋk|
[Of obscure origin, appearing first in the comb. crank-sided, q.v. The early explanations suggest association with the Du. and Fris. krengd (of a ship) laid or lying over on its side, pa. pple. of krengen, orig. to apply pressure to, push over, spec. to lay or cause (a ship) to fall upon her side, e.g. in careening, also intr. to incline or lie on one side, as a ship does when her cargo shifts in the hold. See Dale, and Doornkaat Koolman Ostfries. Wbch. Possibly this foreign word was caught up, and confused with the native crank.]
Liable to lean over or capsize: said of a ship when she is built too deep or narrow, or has not sufficient ballast to carry full sail. crank by the ground (see quots. 1696, 1704).
1696Phillips s.v. Crank, A ship is said to be crank by the Ground when she is narrow-floor'd [1706 adds] so..that she cannot be brought on Ground, without danger of being overthrown, or at least of wringing her Sides. 1702J. Logan in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 82 Through a jealousy of the vessel being crank. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn., Crank, the Sea Term for a Ship that cannot bear her Sails, or can bear but a small Sail for fear of oversetting: and they say she is Crank by the Ground, when she cannot be brought on Ground without danger of overthrowing her. 1770Chron. in Ann. Reg. 67/2 At present she is so cranke she cannot carry sail. 1850Longfellow Building of Ship 29 Strangest of all, Towered the Great Harry, crank and tall. 1873Black Pr. Thule xxiii. 380 That crank little boat with its top-heavy sails.
fig.1751Smollett Per. Pic. ii. (D.), I have heard as how you came by your lame foot by having your upper decks overstowed with liquor, whereby you became crank, and rolled, d'ye see. 1808Moore Corruption ii, Things, which..Still serve to ballast, with convenient words, A few crank arguments for speeching lords.
▪ VII. crank, a.3|kræŋk|
[A group of senses connected with crank n.1 and n.2 and cranky a.]
1. ‘Crooked, distorted’ (Jam.); angularly twisted or bent. Sc.
1825–79in Jamieson, who cites ‘crank-handed, a crank hand’, from Aberdeen, Mearns. 1892J. Mather Poems 252 There stood the old oak tree..No wonder he is crank and grim.
†2. In fig. sense of ‘twisted, angular’; crabbed, awkward or difficult to pronounce, understand, or execute. Obs. or Sc.
1729Swift Direct. Birth-day Song, A skilful critic justly blames Hard, tough, crank, gutt'ral, harsh, stiff names. 1790Shirrefs Poems Gloss., A crank job, a work attended with difficulty, or requiring ingenuity in the execution. 1825–79Jamieson, Crank..2. Hard, difficult; as, ‘a crank word’, a word hard to be understood.
3. Infirm, weak, shaky in health; = cranky 1. dial. [Cf. Du. and Ger. krank.]
1802R. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gloss., Crank, infirm, weak, in bad condition. 1881Leicester Gloss., Crank, sick, ailing.
4. Of machinery: In a loose, shaky, or crazy condition; out of order, working with difficulty; = cranky 3.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. iii, The machinery of laughter took some time to get in motion, and seemed crank and slack. 1837― Fr. Rev. III. ii. i, This Convention is unfortunately the crankest of machines. 1876Times 11 Nov. 9/2 The crank machinery of the double government would..enfeeble every effort of the State.
▪ VIII. crank, v.1|kræŋk|
[f. crank n.1, n.2, which yield a number of isolated senses.]
I. [from crank n.2 1, 2.]
†1. intr. To twist and turn about; to move with a sharply winding course, to zigzag. Obs.
Shakespeare's phr. to come cranking in is humorously echoed in the later quots. without regard to its strict sense.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 682 The purblind hare..He crankes and crosses with a thousand doubles. 1596― 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 98 See, how this Riuer comes me cranking in, And cuts me from the best of all my Land, A huge halfe Moone, a monstrous Cantle out. 1830Miss Mitford Village 4th ser. (1863) 309 Here and there, too, farm-houses and cottages, half hidden by cherry orchards..come cranking into the meadows. 1891Sat. Rev. 12 Dec. 664/1 Here is Professor Finn Magnusen comes me cranking in..and gives a totally different rendering to the Runes.
†2. trans. To wrinkle minutely with parallel ridges and furrows, to crinkle. Also to crank in.
1661J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 75 They were streaked and cranked like a Cockle-shell. Ibid. 76 Other little stones..that were cranked in like a Cockle-shell, but deeper, and not so thick together. Ibid. 78 There is an apparent difference between the Musclestone, and the true Muscle of the Sea, both in the shape..and in the cranking of it.
3. dial. (See quots.)
1847–78Halliwell, Crank..(4) to mark crossways on bread-and-butter to please a child. Kent. 1887Kentish Gloss., Crank, to mark cross-wise.
II. [f. crank n.1]
4. trans.
a. To bend in the shape of a crank, i.e. with two (or four) right angles; to make crankshaped. (Also, to crank down.)
b. To attach a crank to, furnish with a crank.
1793Smeaton Edystone L. 197 Each end was also cranked about an inch, so as to set the transverse part of the bars, clear of the copper sash frame. 1834N. W. Cundy Inland Transit 56 The axle of the greater wheels is cranked. 1842Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. III. ii. 349 An excellent specimen of the low-chested cart, obtained by cranking down the axles. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 138 Tools are often cranked..without any idea of the object to be gained.
5. To fasten with a crank: see crank n.1 3.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 175/1 The edge-plate..should run from one extremity to the other, commencing at the hind bottom bar, on to which it should be cranked.
6. Sc. To shackle (a horse).
1822Hogg Perils of Man I. 267 (Jam.) As for the reward of presumption, it is in Scotland to be crankit before and kicked behind.
7. To lift or draw up by means of a crank.
1883Lathrop in Harper's Mag. Aug. 332/1 He..cranks his prey up [a steep incline] at the rate of 2000 people a day.
8. a. To move or operate (a motor engine) by a crank. b. intr. To turn a crank, as in starting a motor engine. c. fig.
1908Smart Set June 91 The chauffeur..jumped out, and began to crank her up. 1909F. R. Jones Gas Engine 181 Small motors are ‘cranked’ or otherwise turned by hand. Ibid. 183 The cranking should be done immediately after the gas is turned on. Ibid., Then crank up to a fair speed and close the switch. Ibid. 184 Until the motor has been cranked up to high speed. a1910‘O. Henry’ Rolling Stones (1916) 192 The proprietor..was cranking the cash register. 1920V. W. Pagé Automobile Starting, etc. (ed. 6) 424 If the starting motor rotates but does not crank the engine. Ibid. 453 And still the starting motor makes no effort to crank the car. 1924W. M. Raine Troubled Waters vi. 59 Silently she watched him crank the car and drive away. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions i. v. 194 The car refused to start again. She cranked away until she was breathless and aching. 1956H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) xi. 92 Andy..starts to crank out the story of his life.
▪ IX. crank, v.2
[App. onomatopœic, having associations with clank, and with croak, creak; cf. clank v. Cf. also north. dial. cronk to croak.]
intr. To make a harsh, jarring, or grating sound. (Also quasi-trans. with cognate obj.)
1827Clare Sheph. Cal. March 31 The solitary crane..Cranking a jarring melancholy cry. 1847–78Halliwell, Crank..(5) to creak. North. 1852D. M. Moir Poems, Snow xiv, Voiceless, except where, cranking, rings, The skater's curve along, The demon of the ice. |