crank

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noun

ˈkraŋk

: a bent part of an axle or shaft or an arm keyed at right angles to the end of a shaft by which circular motion is imparted to or received from the shaft or by which reciprocating motion is changed into circular motion or vice versa

archaic : bend

: a twist or turn of speech : conceit

—used especially in the phrase quips and cranks

c(1)

: caprice, crotchet

(2)

: an annoyingly eccentric person

also : one who is overly enthusiastic about a particular subject or activity

: a bad-tempered person : grouch

: crystal meth

specifically : an impure form of crystal meth

crankish

ˈkraŋ-kish

adjective

crank

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verb

cranked; cranking; cranks

intransitive verb

: to move with a winding course : zigzag

: to turn a crank

: to get started by or as if by the turning of a crank

: to gain speed, momentum, or intensity

—usually used with up

the campaign is cranking up

transitive verb

: to move or operate by or as if by a crank

crank the window down

: to cause to start

crank an automobile

: to rotate the shaft (such as a crankshaft) of especially with a starter

crank over an engine

: to use in trying to start an engine

crank the starter

: to start as if by use of a crank

—usually used with up

she cranked up the air conditioner

: turn up sense 2

—usually used with up

crank up the volume

crank

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adjective (1)

: of, relating to, or being a bad-tempered or annoyingly eccentric person

also : made or sent by such a person or by someone intending to be an annoyance or to cause harm

crank calls

a crank letter

crank

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adjective (2)

chiefly dialectal : merry, high-spirited

chiefly dialectal : cocky, confident

crank

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adjective (3)

of a boat

: easily tipped : tender entry 1 sense 4d

Example Sentences

Noun To open the car window, turn the crank on the door. He was dismissed as a crank until his article was published. Most people think she's just a harmless crank. Verb He cranked the temperature to 75 degrees. Crank the engine to see if it will start.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

But air conditioning is not standard, and the rear windows have cranks. —

Car and Driver, 25 May 2023 Fishing With more than 1,606 miles of waterways, Glacier attracts anglers like a lipless crank attracts a pike. —

Katie Jackson, Outside Online, 6 Sep. 2022 The 13-foot-wide market umbrella opens with a crank and has a double-sided canopy with steel ribs. —

Rachel Klein, Popular Mechanics, 29 June 2022 Turning the crank again added 42 to itself; the display promptly registered 84. —

Dan Falk, Ars Technica, 9 Dec. 2021 Casement: These windows have a hinge on the side and open and close using a hand crank. —

Maria Masters, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Aug. 2021 Equipped with a convenient crank handle, the umbrella provides instant relief from the blazing sun and can be tilted in multiple directions to keep up with the moving rays. —

Rachel Simon, Travel + Leisure, 5 May 2023 Once the booms, hand cranks, lines and lights were in place, square nets were lowered into Lake Michigan. —

Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2023 Casement windows are hinged on the side and open outward to the left or right with a crank handle. —

Bridget Degnan, Better Homes & Gardens, 12 Feb. 2023

Verb

The startup also cranked up the data collected with sensors and set up an AI dashboard to analyze it with promises of both injury reduction and a healthier bottom line. —

Amy Feldman, Forbes, 5 May 2023 Google is now cranking away on Bard, which is built on a lightweight version of LaMDA. —

Emily Dreibelbis, PCMAG, 1 May 2023 As such, he's pulled out all the stops, cranking everything singular about Guardians of the Galaxy to 11. —

A.a. Dowd, Chron, 28 Apr. 2023 Some think the answer is to crank up the vacuum, so the pipes slurp gas at a higher rate. —

Eric Boodman, STAT, 18 Apr. 2023 Yet that hasn’t swayed the monks to crank up production. —

Tori Latham, Robb Report, 6 Apr. 2023 Ava Broyles, Plainfield Broyles went yard in her first career at-bat, cranking a first-inning grand slam in the Quakers' 16-13 win over Terre Haute South. —

Brian Haenchen, The Indianapolis Star, 27 Mar. 2023 Investors have resumed worrying the Federal Reserve will have to crank up interest rates higher and longer to stifle inflation, after dismissing such fears a few short weeks ago. —

Jason Zweig, WSJ, 24 Feb. 2023 With the boost cranked up, the twin-turbo V-6 leaps to 542 horsepower and 479 pound-feet, gains of 59 and 37, respectively. —

David Beard, Car and Driver, 23 Feb. 2023

Adjective

Whatever the case, those 12- to 16-inch fallfish had no problem smashing a variety of jigs, spinners and mini-crank baits. —

Jim Gronaw, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 17 Oct. 2021 For a non-crank evolutionary biologist who is willing to defend the race concept for humans, see Jerry Coyne. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 28 May 2013 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crank.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English cranke, from Old English cranc- (as in crancstæf, a weaving instrument); probably akin to Middle High German krank weak, sick — more at cringe

Adjective (2)

Middle English cranke

Adjective (3)

short for crank-sided easily tipped

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1592, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Adjective (1)

1924, in the meaning defined above

Adjective (2)