Crane

//kɹeɪn// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname. countable
  2. 2
    A placename:; A minor river in Dorset, England, which becomes the Moors River near Verwood; the name is a back-formation from Cranborne. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A placename:; A minor river in Greater London, England, which joins the Thames near Twickenham. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A placename:; A town in Martin County, Indiana, United States. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A placename:; A town in Stone County, Missouri, United States. countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    A placename:; A census-designated place in Harney County, Oregon, United States. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A placename:; A city, the county seat of Crane County, Texas, United States. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A placename:; An unincorporated community in Bath County, Virginia, United States. countable, uncountable
Noun
  1. 1
    Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.

    "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. 2
    The cranium. obsolete
  3. 3
    Alternative form of cran (“measure of herrings”). alt-of, alternative
  4. 4
    large long-necked wading bird of marshes and plains in many parts of the world wordnet
  5. 5
    Ardea herodias, the great blue heron. US, dialectal
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  1. 6
    lifts and moves heavy objects; lifting tackle is suspended from a pivoted boom that rotates around a vertical axis wordnet
  2. 7
    A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.

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

  3. 8
    An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc. over the fire.
  4. 9
    A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
  5. 10
    A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc.; generally used in pairs.
Verb
  1. 1
    To extend (one's neck). ambitransitive

    "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,"

  2. 2
    stretch (the neck) so as to see better wordnet
  3. 3
    To raise or lower with, or as if with, a crane. transitive

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

  4. 4
    To pull up before a jump. intransitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English crane, from Old English cran (“crane”), from Proto-West Germanic *kran, *kranō, from Proto-Germanic *kranô (“crane”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”). Cognate with Scots cran (“crane”), Dutch kraan (“crane”), German Low German Kroon (“crane”), German Kran (“crane”). The mechanical devices are named from their likeness to the bird.

Etymology 2

From Middle English crane, from Old English cran (“crane”), from Proto-West Germanic *kran, *kranō, from Proto-Germanic *kranô (“crane”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”). Cognate with Scots cran (“crane”), Dutch kraan (“crane”), German Low German Kroon (“crane”), German Kran (“crane”). The mechanical devices are named from their likeness to the bird.

Etymology 3

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

Etymology 4

* As an English surname, from the noun crane. * As a Dutch surname, spelling variant of Krane. * As a German surname, adaptation of Krahn and Krahnich.

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