Crank

Definition: Crank

Crank

Adjective

1. (used of boats) inclined to heel over easily under sail.

Noun

1. A bad-tempered person.

2. A whimsically eccentric person.

3. A hand tool consisting of a rotating shaft with parallel handle.

Verb

1. Travel along a zigzag path: "The river zigzags through the countryside".

2. Start by cranking; of engines.

3. Rotate with a crank.

4. Fasten with a crank.

5. Bend into the shape of a crank.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "crank" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1596. (references)

Computing

Industry

Literature

Mechanical Engineering

Metallurgy

Slang in 1811

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Crank

Instrument

Mechanical powers; lever, leverage; mechanical advantage; crow, crowbar; handspike, gavelock, jemmy, jimmy, arm, limb, wing; oar, paddle; pulley; wheel and axle; wheelwork, clockwork; wheels within wheels; pinion, crank, winch; cam; pedal; capstan; (lift); wheel; (rotation); inclined plane; wedge; screw; spring, mainspring; can hook, glut, heald, heddle, jenny, parbuckle, sprag, water wheel.

Madman

Noun: madman, lunatic, maniac, bedlamite, candidate for Bedlam, raver, madcap, crazy; energumen; automaniac, monomaniac, dipsomaniac, kleptomaniac; hypochondriac; (low spirits); crank, Tom o'Bedlam.

Scourge

Treadmill, crank, galleys.

Wit

Jest, joke, jape, jibe; facetiae, levity, quips and cranks; capital joke; canorae nugae; standing jest, standing joke, private joke, conceit, quip, quirk, crank, quiddity, concetto, plaisanterie, brilliant idea; merry thought, bright thought, happy thought; sally; flash of wit, flash of merriment; scintillation; mot, mot pour rire; witticism, smart saying, bon-mot,jeu d'esprit,epigram; jest book; dry joke, quodlibet, cream of the jest.

Crosswords: Crank

Manx (knock, rap, tap).

It won't crank up and everything seems to be put together right (Sling Blade; writing credit: Charles Chaplin)

I'm in the middle of a crank call here (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge)

Crank it, spank it, smack it on the bing-bong (Just Shoot Me!; writing credit: David Renwick)

We'll crank it open later if we're desperate (Will & Grace; writing credit: Evan Weinstein)

I had to crank couldn'ta done (Ugly; performing artist: Bubba Sparxxx)

You crank it 'cause (Ugly; performing artist: Bubba Sparxxx)

You would crank and wind (Life Goes On; performing artist: LeAnn Rimes)

Or crank your Abba records until dawn (Achy Breaky Song; performing artist: Weird Al Yankovic)

A crank is someone with a new idea -- until it catches on. (references; author: Mark Twain)

The man with a new idea is a crank -- until the idea succeeds. (references; author: Mark Twain)

Crank Yankers (2002)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

References

• The World Market for Transmission Shafts, Cranks, and Cam and Crank Shafts: A 2004 Global Trade Perspective (reference)

  (more reference examples)

Books

• Crank 'Em Up: Brilliant Sales Contests and Bright Ideas to Turn on Your Team and Turn Up Results (reference)

• Crank Letters (reference)

• Crank Up Your Coolness Quotient [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (reference)

• Fan Mail, Frank Letters, and Crank Calls (reference)

• The Best of Crank (reference)

  (more book examples)

Periodicals

• Crank (reference)

  (more periodical examples)

Music

• Best Uncensored Crank Calls 2 (reference)

• The Best Uncensored Crank Calls Vol. 1 (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Hauling in sounding line of trolley rig using hand crank on boat deck Off of ISIS. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

The brighter side of Hell. The anti-tobacco crank jumping through smoke rings. Credit: Library of Congress.

Central repair shop, Salem, Virginia. U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps Director, James J. McEntee, looks on while enrollees receive direction from instructor L.W. Overstreet for assemblying crank shaft, connecting rods, etc. Left to right: L.W. Overstre. Credit: Library of Congress.

Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar. Credit: Library of Congress.

Automobile crank used to get the motor started, Worthington, Ohio. Credit: Library of Congress.

Getting crank out of car to get the motor started, Worthington, Ohio. Credit: Library of Congress.

Migrant boy getting ready to crank his car, Muskogee, Oklahoma. Credit: Library of Congress.

Migrant steeple-jack removing the crank case from his automobile while his father blocks up the front wheel. Near Prague, Oklahoma. When he secures a job, the entire family, consisting of his father and mother, wife and sister, all help with the painting. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

His hand started turning the crank slowly

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "crank": angle crank drive ♦ bell crank ♦ Crank axle ♦ crank block ♦ crank call ♦ crank case ♦ crank chamber ♦ crank drive ♦ crank gear ♦ crank handle ♦ crank letter ♦ crank lever ♦ crank mechanism ♦ crank out ♦ crank person ♦ Crank pin ♦ crank pit ♦ crank s ♦ crank shaft ♦ crank through ♦ crank throw ♦ crank up ♦ Crank wheel ♦ grind crank ♦ kick crank ♦ overhung crank ♦ to crank. Additional references.

Beginning with "crank": crank-driven, crank-handle, crank-shaft, crank-starting, crank-web.

Ending with "crank": hand-crank.

Albanian

rrotulloj (gyrate, revolve, rotate, slue round, spin, swing, swivel, traverse, twist, whirl), njeri eksentrik, ndez me manivelë, me fiksime (hipped), manivelë, maniak (maniac, manic), lëviz me dorezë, grindavec (arguer, cantankerous, captious, caviller, contentious, crab, croaker, disputant, fractious, fretful, ill tempered, noisy person, peevish, pettish, quarrelsome, spitfire, wrangler). (various references)

Arabic 

‏كرنك ذراع الموتور, ‏كرنك, ‏نزوة (caprice, fancy, fantasy, freak, heat, maggot, phantasy, quirk, vagary, whim, whimsy), ‏لوى على شكل كرنك, ‏غير سلس, ‏تلوى (crook, meander, ramble, roll, screw, squirm, tangle, twist, wriggle, writhe), ‏زود بكرنك, ‏المهووس, ‏النزق الردئ, ‏أدار كرنكا, ‏أدار بواسطة كرنك, ‏دائر بصعوبة. (various references)

Bulgarian 

особняк (card, erratic, freak, oddity, original), побъркан (addle-brained, addle-headed, addle-pated, cockeyed, crazy, cuckoo, demented, having a screw loose, light-head, light-headed, mental, moonstruck, nutty, touched), причудлив израз, лъкатуша (corkscrew, ramble, serpentine, wander, wind), запалвам двигател с манивела, манивела (tiller), мърморко (crabber, croaker, crosspatch, grouser, growler, grumbler, misery), изрязвам зигзаговидно, огъвам под форма на коляно, странна идея (maggot, vagary, vagrancy), каприз (caprice, fad, fancy, fit, freak, maggot, megrim, quirk, vagary, vagrancy, whimsy, whim-wham), коляно (articulation, elbow, joint, knee, leg, manifold, stub, toggle, tribe), колянов лост, кривошип, чудак (case, codger, cure, eccentric, faddist, odd-ball, oddity, original, quiz, weirdie, weirdy), разнебитен (beaten up, broken down, cranky, crazy, decrepit, dilapidated, raddle, ramshackle, rickety, shaky, unstrung), нестабилен (dicky, doddery, groggy, insecure, tottery, uncertain, unsound, unstable, unsteady, wonky). (various references)

Chinese 

曲柄 (Cranks). (various references)

Czech

zákrut (bend, crook, elbow), podivín (codger, eccentric, freak), natoèit (curl, do, take), nastartovat (start, start up), klika (clique, door handle, handle, in-group, ring), excentrik (eccentric), divný pavouk. (various references)

Danish

krumtapbugt (crank throw), krumtap (crank lever, crank s, cranked portion of a shaft, handle, overhung crank), haandsving (handle), forkrøpning (cranked portion of a shaft, crimp), forkrøbning. (various references)

Dutch

zwengel (crowbar), kruk (crutch, handle, stool). (various references)

Esperanto

kranko. (various references)

Faeroese

sveingil, kast. (various references)

Farsi 

پیچیدگی (Clubfoot, Compiexity, Elaboration, Intricacy, Plexus), میل لنگ , محوردارکردن , کوک کردن (Key), کج (Askance, Askew, Awry, Crump, Devious, Gauche, Indirect, Lopsided, Sidelong, Sinister, Slant, Snafu, Thwart, Wry), خم کردن (Bend, Crook, Crump, Flex, Hunch, Incline, Limber, Reeve, Wry), خم (Bent, Jar, Knee, Meander, Recumbent, Vat), ادم پست فطرت , دسته محور, دسته دارشدن , بست زانوءی . (various references)

Finnish

veivata (grind), olake, kampi (harp). (various references)

French

manivelle (crank lever, crank s, overhung crank). (various references)

German

Sonderling (eccentric), kurbel (winder). (various references)

Greek 

μανιβέλα (bar, winch). (various references)

Hebrew 

לארכב, א�"ם מוזר (nut, whacky), ארכוב�" (knee, knee joint, shank), כ� � ת (winch, windlass). (various references)

Hungarian

kurbli. (various references)

Indonesian

tongkat ketiak (crutch), sindiran (allusion, backhanded, quibble, satire), mengengkol, engkol (wrench). (various references)

Italian

manovella (handle, winch), gomito (elbow, sharp bend). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

変人 (eccentric, oddball), クラフト紙 (clan, cleaner, cleaning, cleek, club, club face, club head, club sandwich, clubhouse, crab, craft paper, cranberry, cream, cream sauce, cream sundae, cream-filled roll, Creap, creek, creeping inflation, diseased persons, dry cleaning, finish shooting, icecream soda, Kleene, laundry service, startfilming). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

クランク , へ�"じ�" (eccentric, eccentric person, oddball). (various references)

Korean 

크랭크 (Cranks). (various references)

Manx

croymmane, crangaid (winch). (various references)

Norwegian

sveiv. (various references)

Pig Latin

ankcray.(various references)

Portuguese

manivela (handle, winch). (various references)

Romanian

cric (Jack), manivelã (handle, lug, winch), banc (anecdote, Baccara, bank, bed, layer, reef, run, wisecrack), bine dispus (cheerful, debonair, full of beans, full-blooded, good humoured, good-humored, in good spirits, jolly, merry, mettlesome, tails up, well disposed), fixa cu o manivelã, idee fixã (crotchet, mania, monomania), joc de cuvinte (paronomasia, pun, wordplay), manevra (handle, manipulate, manoeuvre, run, sail, scheme, switch, work), întoarce (geld, put about, repay, retaliate, retort, reverse, revert, set, shift, spade, turn), manie (craze, fad, failing, foible, hobby, mania, monomania), vinci (capstan, Jack, winch, windlass), nestabil (floating, rocky, unequal, uneven, unreliable), persoanã excentricã (character, crackpot), prost ajustat, psihopat (psychopath), pune în funcţiune (actuate), rãu fixat, vesel (blithe, blithesome, boon, breezy, bright, cheerful, cheerfully, cheery, chirpy, convivial, debonair, elastic, feastful, festal, frisky, frolic, frolicsome, full-blooded, gaily, gamesome, gay, genial, glad, gladsome, gleeful, happy, hilarious, in full feather, in high feather, jauntily, jaunty, jocund, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyfully, joyous, lively, mellow, merry, mirthful, playful, pleasant, riant, saucy, sprightly, tails up, wanton), maniac (cranky, fiend, maggot, maniac, maniacial, phrenetic). (various references)

Russian 

чудачество (comicality, faddiness, monkey business, shenanigan), человек с причудами (crotcheteer), кривошип, колено (elbow, knee, limb, node, offset, toggle), валкий, мотыль, заводить рукоятью, заводить кривошип, прихоть (whim, whims, whimsy), причуда (antics, caprice, fad, foible, freak, kink, maggot, vagary, whimsy), причудливый оборот. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zglob (joint, knuckle), staviti u pogon (gear), savijati (buckle on, deflect, flex), sagibati, ručica (handle, lever), poluga (bar, boomer, bullion, heaver, ingot, jemmy, lever, purchase), osobenjak (codger, eccentric, type, unco). (various references)

Spanish

manivela (handgrip, handle, wind), cigüeña (stork). (various references)

Swedish

vev (handle, winch), original (aboriginal, case, character, eccentric, freak, master, master copy, oddity, original). (various references)

Turkish

takıntılı kimse, saplantı (determination, idee fixe, idol, monomania, obsession, possession), sabit fikir (bee, fixed idea, hobbyhorse, idee fixe, monomania, obsession), manivelâ, laçka (backlash, cranky, slack), krankla bağlamak, krankla çalıştırmak (crank up), krank, kol (arm, branch, embranchment, flipper, foreleg, handle, limb, offset, ramification, rod, rounds, sleeve, stick, stolon, subsection, tappet, wing), kelime oyunu (equivocation, pun, quibble, wordplay), huysuz (acrimonious, as cross as two sticks, bad tempered, bilious, cantankerous, churlish, crabbed, crabby, cranky, cross-grained, crosspatch, crotchety, crusty, cursed, difficult, disagreeable, disgruntled, doggish, farouche, fractious, fretful, gnarled, grouchy, gruff, grumbling, grumpy, ill natured, ill tempered, ill-humored, ill-humoured, liverish, mean, Moody, out of humour, out of sorts, peeved, peevish, peppery, perverse, pettish, petulant, prickly, quarrelsome, querulous, ratty, rusty, shirty, snappish, spleenful, spleenish, splenetic, stroppy, sulky, surly, tetchy, thrawn, ugly, untoward, vicious, vixenish, waspish, wildcat, wrongheaded), gevşek (airy, drooping, flabby, flaccid, flagging, floppy, halfhearted, laidback, lax, limp, listless, loose, nonrigid, non-rigid, slack, slouching, slouchy, supine, unstuck), güçsüz (doughy, feeble, flabby, helpless, impotent, ineffectual, powerless, sapless, shaky, sinewless, strengthless, weak), dengesi bozulabilir, acayip kimse (oddball, specimen). (various references)

Ukrainian

слабкий (bedrid, characterless, delicate, faint, feeble, flagging, languishing, lax, limp, nerveless, one horse, pale, queasy, slack, tender, tenuous, weak, weakly), розхитаний (cranky, doddered, haywire, lax, rattletrap, rickety), розладнаний (disordered, maladjusted, out of tune), хисткий (cranky), химера (bubble, chimera, vapor, vapour, whimsy-whamsy, whim-wham), кривошип, коліно (knee), верещати (shriek, yell), загинати у вигляді коліна, заводна ручка, прокручувати. (various references)

Vietnamese 

lối nói kỳ quặc ý nghĩ quái gỡ, lối chơi chữ (word-play), không vững (instable, rocky, unstable, unsteady), h� nh động lập dị người kỳ quặc, h� nh động kỳ quặc, ọp ẹp (crazily, rickety, tumbledown). (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "crank": crankcase, crankcases, cranked, cranker, crankest, crankier, crankiest, crankily, crankiness, crankinesses, cranking, crankish, crankle, crankled, crankles, crankling, crankly, crankous, crankpin, crankpins, cranks, crankshaft, crankshafts, cranky. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Crank" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ceran, Cerano, Cernac, Cernak, ciran, craark, Crahn, craik, Crak, Cranch, crano, crant, creaunce, creno, crink, Crna, Cronk, Cyran, Kramnik, krank, Krankl, kranko, srank, wrank. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: cark, carn, karn, knar, narc, nark, rack, rank.

-2 letters: arc, ark, can, car, ran.

-3 letters: an, ar, ka, na.

+1 letter: canker, cranks, cranky.

+2 letters: arcking, bracken, cankers, carking, cranked, cranker, crankle, crankly, knacker, racking, ransack, runback.

+3 letters: antirock, bankcard, brackens, cankered, charking, corncake, cracking, cracknel, crankest, crankier, crankily, cranking, crankish, crankled, crankles, crankous, crankpin, creaking, croaking, knackers, knackery, neckwear, ransacks, runbacks, tracking, trackman, trackmen, truckman, unpacker, wracking.

+4 letters: anticrack, bankcards, benchmark, blackener, brainsick, breakneck, canebrake, cankering, cankerous, caretaken, corncakes, corncrake, cornstalk, crackdown, crackings, crackling, cracknels, cracksman, cracksmen, crankcase, crankiest, crankling, crankpins, dackering, fancywork, greenback, kingcraft, knackered, lackering, nicknamer, panickier, pickaroon, racketing, rackingly, raincheck, ransacked, ransacker, repacking, reracking, retacking, scarfskin, screaking, thornback, trackings, uncracked, unpackers.