crane

Etymology

From Middle English cran, from Old English cran (“crane”), from Proto-Germanic *kranô (“crane”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”). Cognate with Scots cran (“crane”), Dutch kraan (“crane”), German Kran (“crane”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹeɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn

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.
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.

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To extend (one's neck).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of George Eliot to this entry?)

2. (transitive) To raise or lower with, or as if with, a crane.
   • Bates

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

   • Massinger

     an upstart craned up to the height he has

Anagrams

• Caren, Cerna, Rance, caner, caren, nacre, nacré, rance, recan