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Meaning of crank in English | Powered by Free Dictionary API

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crank

/kɹæŋk/

Phonetics

/kɹæŋk/

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noun

  • 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.

    Example: I grind my coffee by hand with a coffee grinder with a crank handle.
  • The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft.

    Example: Yes, a crank was all it needed to start.
  • Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.

  • An ill-tempered or nasty person.

    Example: Billy-Bob is a nasty old crank! He chased my cat away.
  • A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim;

  • A fit of temper or passion.

  • (dated in US) A person who is considered strange or odd by others. They may behave in unconventional ways.

    Example: John is a crank because he talks to himself.
  • (1800s) A baseball fan.

  • An advocate of a pseudoscience movement.

    Example: That crank next door thinks he’s created cold fusion in his garage.
  • A twist or turn in speech; word play consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word.

  • A sick person; an invalid.

  • A penis.


verb

  • To turn by means of a crank.

    Example: Motorists had to crank their engine by hand.
  • To turn a crank.

    Example: He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
  • (of a crank or similar) To turn.

    Example: 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.

    Example: Crank it up!
  • To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining.

    Example: Quit cranking about your spilt milk!
  • To be running at a high level of output or effort.

    Example: By one hour into the shift, the boys were really cranking.
  • To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.


adjective

  • Strange, weird, odd.

  • Sick; unwell

  • (of a ship) Liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast.

  • Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated.


noun

  • A highly addictive phenethylamine stimulant drug, similar to cocaine. Its systematic (IUPAC) name is (S)-N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine.