crane definition

English crane definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹeɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle English cran, from Old English cran (“crane”), from Proto-West Germanic *kran, from Proto-Germanic *kranô (“crane”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”).

Cognate with Scots cran (“crane”), Dutch kraan (“crane”), German Kran (“crane”). The mechanical devices are named from their likeness to the bird.

Noun

crane (plural cranes)

1. Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.
   • 1876, "Burmah" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 552:

     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 antigone, in Burmese gyoja), whimbrels, plovers, and ibises.

2. (US, dialect) Ardea herodias, the great blue heron.
3. A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.
   • 2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 111:

     Large cranes were virtually non-existent in the areas I worked with this truck, so we jacked everything on and off[.]

4. An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc. over the fire.
5. A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
6. (nautical) A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc.; generally used in pairs.

Hyponyms

• Gruidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Derived terms

(Lifting devices):

Related terms

• cranberry, via German Low German Kraan (“crane”)

Descendants

Translations

See also

• egret
• heron
• stork

Verb

crane (third-person singular simple present cranes, present participle craning, simple past and past participle craned)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To extend (one's neck).
   • 1879, George Eliot, Impressions of Theophrastus Such:

     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,

   • 1948 November and December, “By Broad Gauge to Cornwall”, in Railway Magazine, page 357:

     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 encourage the crew.

   • 2008, Rivers Cuomo (lyrics and music), “Troublemaker”, in Weezer (Red Album), performed by Weezer:

     I'm gonna be a star and people will crane necks
     To get a glimpse of me and see if I am having sex

2. (transitive) To raise or lower with, or as if with, a crane.
   • 1693, William Bates, Sermons preach'd on Several Occasions:

     What engines, what instruments are used in craning up a soul, sunk below the centre, to the highest heavens.

   • 1619, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, The Fatal Dowry:

     an upstart craned up to the height he has

3. (intransitive) To pull up before a jump.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English crane, cranee, from Old French cran, from Medieval Latin crānium.

Noun

crane (plural cranes)

1. (obsolete) The cranium.

Etymology 3

Noun

crane (plural cranes)

1. Alternative form of cran (“measure of herrings”)

Anagrams

• Caren, Carne, Cerna, Crean, Nérac, Rance, caner, caren, crena, nacre, nacré, rance, recan

Middle English crane definition

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English cran, *crana.

Alternative forms

• krane, cranne, craane, crone, craune

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkraːn(ə)/, /kran/

Noun

crane (plural cranes)

2. crane (bird)
3. crane (machine)

Derived terms

• cranage

Descendants

• English: crane (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: cran

References

• “crāne, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-07.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French cran, from Medieval Latin crānium.

Alternative forms

• cranee

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kraːn/

Noun

crane

2. cranium

Descendants

• English: crane (obsolete)

References

• “crāne, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-07.