English Explanatory Dictionary

crane

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.
  2. Ardea herodias, the great blue heron.
  3. A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.
  4. An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc. over the fire.
  5. A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
  6. A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc.; generally used in pairs.
verb
  1. To extend (one's neck).
  2. To raise or lower with, or as if with, a crane.
  3. To pull up before a jump.
noun
  1. The cranium.
noun
  1. Alternative form of cran (“measure of herrings”).
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A placename:
  3. A minor river in Dorset, England, which becomes the Moors River near Verwood; the name is a back-formation from Cranborne.
  4. A minor river in Greater London, England, which joins the Thames between St Margarets and Isleworth.
  5. A place in the United States:
  6. A town in Perry Township, Martin County, Indiana.
  7. A town in Stone County, Missouri.
  8. A census-designated place in Richland County, Montana.
  9. A census-designated place in Harney County, Oregon.
  10. A city, the county seat of Crane County, Texas.
  11. An unincorporated community in Bath County, Virginia.
  12. An unincorporated community in Clallam County, Washington.

Pronunciation

/kɹeɪn/ en-us-crane.ogg /kɹæɪn/ /kɾen/ /kɾeːn/ /kɹɛɪn/

Word forms

crane cranes craning craned

Etymology

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.

Related words

cranberry via German Low German Kraan egret heron stork

Derived words

breakdown crane claw crane container crane craneable crane driver crane engine crane game crane-line crane locomotive crane operator crawler crane gantry crane mobile crane overhead crane platform crane skill crane stacker crane steam crane Titan crane tower crane travelling crane traveling crane Australian crane Balearic crane black crested crane black crowned crane black-necked crane blue crane common crane crested crane crowned crane demoiselle crane Eurasian crane grey crowned crane hooded crane Japanese crane Manchurian crane Numidian crane paper crane paradise crane red-crowned crane sandhill crane sarus crane Siberian crane Stanley crane wattled crane white-naped crane whooping crane aircrane crane fly cranefly cranelike craneman cranequin cranesbill craneway helicrane minicrane origami crane phantom crane fly
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on C Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary