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Crane   /kreɪn/   Listen
noun
Crane, Cran  n.  A measure for fresh herrings, as many as will fill a barrel. (Scot.)


Crane  n.  
1.
(Zool.) A wading bird of the genus Grus, and allied genera, of various species, having a long, straight bill, and long legs and neck. Note: The common European crane is Grus cinerea. The sand-hill crane (Grus Mexicana) and the whooping crane (Grus Americana) are large American species. The Balearic or crowned crane is Balearica pavonina. The name is sometimes erroneously applied to the herons and cormorants.
2.
Any arm which swings about a vertical axis at one end, used for supporting a suspended weight.
3.
A machine for raising and lowering heavy weights, and, while holding them suspended, transporting them through a limited lateral distance. In one form it consists of a projecting arm or jib of timber or iron, a rotating post or base, and the necessary tackle, windlass, etc.; so called from a fancied similarity between its arm and the neck of a crane.
4.
An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace, for supporting kettles, etc., over a fire.
5.
A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
6.
(Naut.) A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc., generally used in pairs. See Crotch, 2.
7.
(Zool.) The American blue heron (Ardea herodias). (Local, U. S.)
Crane fly (Zool.), a dipterous insect with long legs, of the genus Tipula.
Derrick crane. See Derrick.
Gigantic crane. (Zool.) See Adjutant, n., 3.
Traveling crane, Traveler crane, Traversing crane (Mach.), a crane mounted on wheels; esp., an overhead crane consisting of a crab or other hoisting apparatus traveling on rails or beams fixed overhead, as in a machine shop or foundry.
Water crane, a kind of hydrant with a long swinging spout, for filling locomotive tenders, water carts, etc., with water.


verb
Crane  v. t.  (past & past part. craned; pres. part. craning)  
1.
To cause to rise; to raise or lift, as by a crane; with up. (R.) "What engines, what instruments are used in craning up a soul, sunk below the center, to the highest heavens." "An upstart craned up to the height he has."
2.
To stretch, as a crane stretches its neck; as, to crane the neck disdainfully.


crane  v. i.  To reach forward with head and neck, in order to see better; as, a hunter cranes forward before taking a leap. "The passengers eagerly craning forward over the bulwarks."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Crane" Quotes from Famous Books



... a great pot of meat. They set up a crane over the fire and hung the pot upon it, and we sat and watched it boil while we joked. At last the supper began. The farmer sat gloomily on the bench and would not eat, and you cannot wonder; for he saw us putting potfuls of his good beef and basket-loads ...
— Viking Tales • Jennie Hall
... were secured by them from being hurt by missiles shot through the walls. Against these he either shot stones big enough to drive the marines from the prow; or let down an iron hand swung on a chain, by which the man who guided the crane, having fastened on some part of the prow where he could get a hold, prest down the lever of the machine inside the wall; and when he had thus lifted the prow and made the vessel rest upright on ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume I (of X) - Greece • Various
... don't know. He preferred to take the journey on foot, and he may be here at almost any time. But, as I have told you, he is very uncertain. If he should happen to make the acquaintance of some interesting snipe, or crane, or plover, he may prefer its company to ours, and then there is no counting on him any longer. He may be as likely to turn up at the North Pole as at ...
— Tales From Two Hemispheres • Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
... Grandoni. "It reminds me," she said, "of the things a young man used to do whom I knew years ago, when I first came to Rome. He was a German, a pupil of Overbeck and a votary of spiritual art. He used to wear a black velvet tunic and a very low shirt collar; he had a neck like a sickly crane, and let his hair grow down to his shoulders. His name was Herr Schafgans. He never painted anything so profane as a man taking a drink, but his figures were all of the simple and slender and angular pattern, and ...
— Roderick Hudson • Henry James
... own cousin!" exclaimed Archer, "there's a noble fellow! there's my own cousin, I acknowledge. Fill the bag, then." Several times the bag descended and ascended; and at every unlading of the crane, fresh acclamations were heard. ...
— The Parent's Assistant • Maria Edgeworth


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