/kɹeɪn/
OriginFrom Middle English crane, from Old English cran (“crane”), from Proto-West Germanic *kran, *kranō, from Proto-Germanic *kranô (“crane”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”).
Cognate with Scots cran (“crane”), Dutch kraan (“crane”), German Low German Kroon (“crane”), German Kran (“crane”). The mechanical devices are named from their likeness to the bird.
- Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.
“Aquatic birds of various kinds are very numerous, such as geese, darters (Flotus melanogaster), scissor-bills (Rhynchops nigra), adjutants (Leptoptilos argala), pelicans, cormorants, cranes (Grus anti”
- US, dialectalArdea herodias, the great blue heron.
- A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.
“Large cranes were virtually non-existent in the areas I worked with this truck, so we jacked everything on and off[.]”
- An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc. over the fire.
- A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
- A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc.; generally used in pairs.
- obsoleteThe cranium.
- ambitransitiveTo extend (one's neck).
“and my bachelor's hearth is imbedded where by much craning of head and neck I can catch sight of a sycamore in the Square garden,”
“Didcot had one definite pleasure. We knew that little boys would be going up and down the platform singing out, "Banbury cakes! Banbury cakes!" And mother would crane out and buy some, just to encoura”
“I'm gonna be a star and people will crane necks
To get a glimpse of me and see if I am having sex”
- transitiveTo raise or lower with, or as if with, a crane.
“What engines, what instruments are used in craning up a soul, sunk below the centre, to the highest heavens.”
“an upstart craned up to the height he has”
“Several overnight weekend possessions were required to crane in new bridges and various other parts of the buildings which were manufactured offsite.”
- intransitiveTo pull up before a jump.
- countableA surname.
- countable, uncountableA minor river in Dorset, England, which becomes the Moors River near Verwood; the name is a back-formation from Cranborne.
- countable, uncountableA minor river in Greater London, England, which joins the Thames near Twickenham.
- countable, uncountableA town in Martin County, Indiana, United States.
- countable, uncountableA town in Stone County, Missouri, United States.
- countable, uncountableA census-designated place in Harney County, Oregon, United States.
- countable, uncountableA city, the county seat of Crane County, Texas, United States.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in Bath County, Virginia, United States.
Formscranes(plural) · cranes(present, singular, third-person) · craning(participle, present) · craned(participle, past) · craned(past) · Cranes(plural)