Difference Wiki

Crane vs. Crank: What's the Difference?

Crane and Crank Definitions

Crane

Any of various large wading birds of the family Gruidae, having a long neck, long legs, and a long bill.

Crank

A device for transmitting rotary motion, consisting of a handle or arm attached at right angles to a shaft.

Crane

A similar bird, such as a heron.

Crank

A clever turn of speech; a verbal conceit
Quips and cranks.

Crane

A machine for hoisting and moving heavy objects by means of cables attached to a movable boom.
ADVERTISEMENT

Crank

A peculiar or eccentric idea or action.

Crane

Any of various devices with a swinging arm, as in a fireplace for suspending a pot.

Crank

A grouchy person.

Crane

To hoist or move with or as if with a crane.

Crank

An eccentric person, especially one who is unduly zealous.
ADVERTISEMENT

Crane

To strain and stretch (the neck, for example) in order to see better.

Crank

(Slang) Methamphetamine.

Crane

To stretch one's neck toward something for a better view.

Crank

To start or operate (an engine, for example) by or as if by turning a handle.

Crane

To be irresolute; hesitate.

Crank

To move or operate (a window, for example) by or as if by turning a handle.

Crane

Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.

Crank

To make into the shape of a crank; bend.

Crane

Ardea herodias, the great blue heron.

Crank

To provide with a handle that is used in turning.

Crane

A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.

Crank

To turn a handle.

Crane

An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc. over the fire.

Crank

To wind in a zigzagging course.

Crane

A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.

Crank

Of, being, or produced by an eccentric person
A crank letter.
A crank phone call.

Crane

(nautical) A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc.; generally used in pairs.

Crank

Liable to capsize; unstable.

Crane

(obsolete) The cranium.

Crank

(slang) Strange, weird, odd.

Crane

(ambitransitive) To extend (one's neck).

Crank

Sick; unwell.

Crane

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

Crank

Liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast.

Crane

(intransitive) To pull up before a jump.

Crank

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

Crane

A wading bird of the genus Grus, and allied genera, of various species, having a long, straight bill, and long legs and neck.

Crank

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.
I grind my coffee by hand with a coffee grinder with a crank handle.

Crane

Any arm which swings about a vertical axis at one end, used for supporting a suspended weight.

Crank

Clipping of crankshaft

Crane

A machine for raising and lowering heavy weights, and, while holding them suspended, transporting them through a limited lateral distance. In one form it consists of a projecting arm or jib of timber or iron, a rotating post or base, and the necessary tackle, windlass, etc.; - so called from a fancied similarity between its arm and the neck of a crane See Illust. of Derrick.

Crank

The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft.
Yes, a crank was all it needed to start.
Give it a forceful crank.

Crane

An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace, for supporting kettles, etc., over a fire.

Crank

(archaic) Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.

Crane

A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.

Crank

(informal) An ill-tempered or nasty person.
Billy-Bob is a nasty old crank! He chased my cat away.

Crane

A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc., - generally used in pairs. See Crotch, 2.

Crank

A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim;

Crane

The American blue heron (Ardea herodias).

Crank

A fit of temper or passion.

Crane

To cause to rise; to raise or lift, as by a crane; - with up.
What engines, what instruments are used in craning up a soul, sunk below the center, to the highest heavens.
An upstart craned up to the height he has.

Crank

A person who is considered strange or odd by others. They may behave in unconventional ways.
John is a crank because he talks to himself.

Crane

To stretch, as a crane stretches its neck; as, to crane the neck disdainfully.

Crank

A baseball fan.

Crane

To reach forward with head and neck, in order to see better; as, a hunter cranes forward before taking a leap.
The passengers eagerly craning forward over the bulwarks.

Crank

(informal) An amateur in science or other technical subjects who persistently advocates flawed theories
That crank next door thinks he’s created cold fusion in his garage.

Crane

United States writer (1871-1900)

Crank

Synonym of methamphetamine.
Danny got abscesses from shooting all that bathtub crank.

Crane

United States poet (1899-1932)

Crank

(rare) A twist or turn in speech; word play consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word.

Crane

Lifts and moves heavy objects; lifting tackle is suspended from a pivoted boom that rotates around a vertical axis

Crank

(obsolete) A sick person; an invalid.

Crane

Large long-necked wading bird of marshes and plains in many parts of the world

Crank

(slang) The penis.

Crane

Stretch (the neck) so as to see better;
The women craned their necks to see the President drive by

Crank

(transitive) To turn by means of a crank.
Motorists had to crank their engine by hand.

Crank

(intransitive) To turn a crank.
He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.

Crank

To turn.
He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.

Crank

(transitive) To cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank.
I turn the key and crank the engine; yet it doesn't turn over
Crank it up!

Crank

(intransitive) To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining.
Quit cranking about your spilt milk!

Crank

(intransitive) To be running at a high level of output or effort.
By one hour into the shift, the boys were really cranking.

Crank

To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.

Crank

A bent portion of an axle, or shaft, or an arm keyed at right angles to the end of a shaft, by which motion is imparted to or received from it; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion. See Bell crank.

Crank

Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.
So many turning cranks these have, so many crooks.

Crank

A twist or turn in speech; a conceit consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word.
Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles.

Crank

A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim; crotchet; also, a fit of temper or passion.
Violent of temper; subject to sudden cranks.

Crank

A person full of crotchets; one given to fantastic or impracticable projects; one whose judgment is perverted in respect to a particular matter.

Crank

A sick person; an invalid.
Thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater.

Crank

Sick; infirm.

Crank

Liable to careen or be overset, as a ship when she is too narrow, or has not sufficient ballast, or is loaded too high, to carry full sail.

Crank

Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated.
He who was, a little before, bedrid, . . . was now crank and lusty.
If you strong electioners did not think you were among the elect, you would not be so crank about it.

Crank

To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.
See how this river comes me cranking in.

Crank

A bad-tempered person

Crank

A whimsically eccentric person

Crank

Amphetamine used in the form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant

Crank

A hand tool consisting of a rotating shaft with parallel handle

Crank

Travel along a zigzag path;
The river zigzags through the countryside

Crank

Start by cranking;
Crank up the engine

Crank

Rotate with a crank

Crank

Fasten with a crank

Crank

Bend into the shape of a crank

Crank

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

Trending Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

New Comparisons