Cran

name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A measure of herrings, either imprecise or sometimes legally specified. It has oftentimes been about 37½ imperial gallons, or ~750 herrings on average (up to 1200 or even ~2500). obsolete

    "Very flattering indeed has been the success of the fishermen; and many boats have come in loaded, averaging thirty or forty crans each (every cran estimated at 1,000 herrings), and disposed of their cargoes at nine shillings per cran; but the price has been since raised to fifteen shillings."

  2. 2
    An embellishment played on the lowest note of a chanter of a bagpipe, consisting of a series of grace notes produced by rapid sequential lifting of the fingers of the lower hand.
  3. 3
    Alternative form of qiran. alt-of, alternative
  4. 4
    a capacity unit used for measuring fresh herring wordnet
  5. 5
    A barrel made to hold such a measure. broadly, obsolete, rare
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Cranfield University, used especially following post-nominal letters indicating status as a graduate.
  2. 2
    Acronym of Comprehensive R Archive Network. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
  3. 3
    A river, Rivière du Cran (Cran River), in Le Domaine-du-Roy Regional County Municipality, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, Quebec, Canada, a tributary of the Ashuapmushuan River.

Example

More examples

"Very flattering indeed has been the success of the fishermen; and many boats have come in loaded, averaging thirty or forty crans each (every cran estimated at 1,000 herrings), and disposed of their cargoes at nine shillings per cran; but the price has been since raised to fifteen shillings."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Evidently from, or at least influenced by Goidelic; compare Scottish Gaelic crann (“lot, measure of herring, tree, etc.”).

Etymology 2

Shortened form of Cranfield taking all the letters of the first syllable and the first consonant of the second syllable.

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