crank
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
crank
adj 1: (used of boats) inclined to heel over easily under sail
[syn: {crank}, {cranky}, {tender}, {tippy}]
n 1: a bad-tempered person [syn: {grouch}, {grump}, {crank},
{churl}, {crosspatch}]
2: a whimsically eccentric person [syn: {crackpot}, {crank},
{nut}, {nut case}, {fruitcake}, {screwball}]
3: an amphetamine derivative (trade name Methedrine) used in the
form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to
the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant [syn:
{methamphetamine}, {methamphetamine hydrochloride},
{Methedrine}, {meth}, {deoxyephedrine}, {chalk}, {chicken
feed}, {crank}, {glass}, {ice}, {shabu}, {trash}]
4: a hand tool consisting of a rotating shaft with parallel
handle [syn: {crank}, {starter}]
v 1: travel along a zigzag path; "The river zigzags through the
countryside" [syn: {zigzag}, {crank}]
2: start by cranking; "crank up the engine" [syn: {crank},
{crank up}]
3: rotate with a crank [syn: {crank}, {crank up}]
4: fasten with a crank
5: bend into the shape of a crank
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Crank \Crank\ (kr[a^][ng]k), n. [OE. cranke; akin to E. cringe,
cringle, crinkle, and to crank, a., the root meaning,
probably, "to turn, twist." See {Cringe}.]
1. (Mach.) 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}.
[1913 Webster]
2. Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.
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So many turning cranks these have, so many crooks.
--Spenser.
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3. A twist or turn in speech; a conceit consisting in a
change of the form or meaning of a word.
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Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles. --Milton.
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4. A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim; crotchet;
also, a fit of temper or passion. [Prov. Eng.]
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Violent of temper; subject to sudden cranks.
--Carlyle.
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5. A person full of crotchets; one given to fantastic or
impracticable projects; one whose judgment is perverted in
respect to a particular matter. [Colloq.]
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6. A sick person; an invalid. [Obs.]
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Thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater. --Burton.
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{Crank axle} (Mach.), a driving axle formed with a crank or
cranks, as in some kinds of locomotives.
{Crank pin} (Mach.), the cylindrical piece which forms the
handle, or to which the connecting rod is attached, at the
end of a crank, or between the arms of a double crank.
{Crank shaft}, a shaft bent into a crank, or having a crank
fastened to it, by which it drives or is driven.
{Crank wheel}, a wheel acting as a crank, or having a wrist
to which a connecting rod is attached.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Crank \Crank\ (kr[a^][ng]k), a. [AS. cranc weak; akin to Icel.
krangr, D. & G. krank sick, weak (cf. D. krengen to careen).
Cf. {Crank}, n.]
1. Sick; infirm. [Prov. Eng.]
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2. (Naut.) 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.
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3. Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident;
opinionated.
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He who was, a little before, bedrid, . . . was now
crank and lusty. --Udall.
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If you strong electioners did not think you were
among the elect, you would not be so crank about it.
--Mrs. Stowe.
[1913 Webster]
from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
crank
vt.
[from automotive slang] Verb used to describe the performance of a
machine, especially sustained performance. "This box cranks (or,
cranks at) about 6 megaflops, with a burst mode of twice that on
vectorized operations."
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
257 Moby Thesaurus words for "crank":
L, Tartar, abnormal, aficionado, alien, angle, angle off,
anomalous, apex, bar, beam, bear, bee, bellyacher, bend, bifurcate,
bifurcation, bight, boom, boutade, brainstorm, branch, branks,
buff, bug, cant, cant hook, capriccio, caprice, case, character,
chevron, circle, circulate, circumrotate, circumvolute, claw bar,
coin, complainant, complainer, conceit, corner, crab, crackbrain,
crackpot, crank in, crankish, cranky, craze, crazy idea, croaker,
crook, crosspatch, crotchet, crotchety, crow, crowbar,
cucking stool, cuckoo, deflection, deviant, deviative, devotee,
different, ding-a-ling, divergent, dogleg, dotty, dragon, draw in,
draw taut, ducking stool, eccentric, elbow, ell, energumen,
enthusiast, erratic, exceptional, fad, fan, fanatic, fanatico,
fancy, fantastic notion, fantasy, faultfinder, feist, fey,
finger pillory, fire-eater, flake, flaky, flimflam, fool notion,
fork, freak, freakish, freakish inspiration, frondeur, funny,
furcate, furcation, fury, go around, go round, griper,
grizzly bear, grouch, grouser, growler, grumbler, gyrate, gyre,
handspike, harebrain, harebrained idea, hermit, hobo, hook,
hothead, hotspur, humor, idiocratic, idiosyncratic, infatuate,
inflection, iron crow, irregular, jimmy, kicker, kink, kinky, knee,
kook, kooky, kvetch, lever, limb, lone wolf, loner, lunatic,
lunatic fringe, maggot, maggoty, malcontent, marlinespike,
maverick, megrim, meshuggenah, monomaniac, murmurer, mutterer,
natural, nonconformist, nook, notion, nut, nutty, odd, odd fellow,
oddball, oddity, original, outrigger, outsider, pariah,
passing fancy, peavey, peculiar, pedal, pillory, pinch bar,
pirouette, pivot, point, prize, pry, pull in, queer, queer duck,
queer fish, queer specimen, querulous person, quirk, quirky, quoin,
rara avis, reactionary, reactionist, rebel, recluse, reel, reel in,
revolve, ripping bar, rotate, round, screw, screwball, screwy,
singular, solitary, sorehead, sourpuss, spar, spin, stocks,
strange, strange duck, swerve, swing, swivel, tackle, tauten,
tighten, toy, tramp, treadle, treadmill, trebuchet, triangle,
triangles, trim, turn, turn a pirouette, turn around, turn round,
twist, twisted, type, ugly customer, unconventional, unnatural,
vagary, veer, vertex, wacky, wamble, weirdo, wheel, whim,
whim-wham, whimsical, whimsy, whiner, whipping post, winch, wind,
wind in, windlass, wooden horse, wrecking bar, zag, zealot, zig,
zigzag
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