Crank
noun
A part of an engine or machine that is shaped like an arm that rotates in a circular movement and passes power to the engine.
The mechanic is fixing the crank in the car's engine.
Often appears as...
- hand crank
- crank mechanism
Usage tips
Technical
noun
An old-fashioned word for a grumpy or eccentric person, usually, someone with unpopular or strange opinions.
My neighbor is an old crank who complains about everything.
Often appears as...
- old crank
- crazy crank
Usage tips
Disapproving
Colloquial
verb
To start or operate (a vehicle or machine) by turning a handle.
He cranked the engine and the car roared to life.
Often appears as...
- crank the engine
- crank the handle
noun
A slang term for a methamphetamine drug.
Police raided the house and found a stash of crank.
Often appears as...
- stash of crank
- using crank
Usage tips
Informal, Disapproving
Slang
verb
To increase something to a higher level.
Turn up the music, crank it up!
Often appears as...
- crank up the volume
- crank up the heat
Usage tips
Informal
Colloquial
noun
A part of an engine or machine that is shaped like an arm that rotates in a circular movement and passes power to the engine.
The mechanic is fixing the crank in the car's engine.
Often appears as...
- hand crank
- crank mechanism
Usage tips
Technical
noun
An old-fashioned word for a grumpy or eccentric person, usually, someone with unpopular or strange opinions.
My neighbor is an old crank who complains about everything.
Often appears as...
- old crank
- crazy crank
Usage tips
Disapproving
Colloquial
verb
To start or operate (a vehicle or machine) by turning a handle.
He cranked the engine and the car roared to life.
Often appears as...
- crank the engine
- crank the handle
noun
A slang term for a methamphetamine drug.
Police raided the house and found a stash of crank.
Often appears as...
- stash of crank
- using crank
Usage tips
Informal, Disapproving
Slang
verb
To increase something to a higher level.
Turn up the music, crank it up!
Often appears as...
- crank up the volume
- crank up the heat
Usage tips
Informal
Colloquial
Definition 1 of 5
Pro Tip 1/2Mechanical Term
Used in technical contexts, related to physical parts of a machine or engine.
Rotate the crank to raise the jack under the car.
Pro Tip 2/2Circular Motion
Focuses on the circular movement part of a machine essential for power transfer.
The crank needs to be oiled for smoother motion.
Pro Tip 1/2Mechanical Term
Used in technical contexts, related to physical parts of a machine or engine.
Rotate the crank to raise the jack under the car.
Pro Tip 2/2Circular Motion
Focuses on the circular movement part of a machine essential for power transfer.
The crank needs to be oiled for smoother motion.
Pro Tip 1/2Mechanical Term
Used in technical contexts, related to physical parts of a machine or engine.
Rotate the crank to raise the jack under the car.
Pro Tip 2/2Circular Motion
Focuses on the circular movement part of a machine essential for power transfer.
The crank needs to be oiled for smoother motion.
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Video examples
How fear of nuclear...
which is that there's just not enough global demand. I mean, we can crank out these machines on assembly lines, we do know how to make things cheap, but there's just not enough people that want them." And so, let's do solar and wind and efficiency and conservation. Let's accelerate the advanced nuclear programs. I think we should triple the amount of money we're spending on it.
Video examples
How we need to remake...
end up advancing the cause of the negative people, the negative emotions, the cranks, the paranoids, the cynics, the nihilists. Those are the ones who get amplified by the system. And you can't pay one of these companies to make the world suddenly nice and improve democracy
Video examples
What You Can Do to...
you've inherited a rare genetic mutation that cranks out amyloid beta, and this alone will tip your scale arm to the ground. But for most of us, the genes we inherit will only tip the arm a bit. For example, APOE4 is a gene variant that increases amyloid,
Video examples
The Internet as a...
at a speaker send the text message hidden and now you've made your swanky little Wi-Fi speaker move out the speaker the mp3 player put instead a servo and send an email to your thermostat telling it to crank up the heat and when you get home your
Video examples
How does work...work? -...
We transfer energy into the clock when we turn the crank to raise the heavy metal cylinders inside the clock. When we do this, we are doing positive work, adding energy to the clock, and that energy is stored as gravitational potential energy.
Video examples
What it's really like to...
is that the world just isn't built for us. There's so many ways that we can get overwhelmed. For example, the thing that makes me overwhelmed all the time is loud noises, which means I never crank up my music really loud
Video examples
Saltwater Crocodile...
crank up and start plucking these boys get pretty hot in email examining the nest wouldn't have damaged the eggs in any way the female will return as soon as we're gone to continue to protect her
Video examples
Dare to disagree PIPE...
as a whistle-blower, except that like almost all whistle-blowers, he wasn't a crank at all, he was passionately devoted to the organization and the higher purposes that that organization served.
Video examples
Why we love, why we...
to tell you that they love you. The other main characteristic is motivation. The motor in the brain begins to crank, and you want this person. And last but not least, it is an obsession.
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 320 PIPE...
do apologize about any technical issues then if you maybe saw the roof or the sky whose crank is busy putting on the infrared light as it is getting to that
Video examples
How fear of nuclear...
which is that there's just not enough global demand. I mean, we can crank out these machines on assembly lines, we do know how to make things cheap, but there's just not enough people that want them." And so, let's do solar and wind and efficiency and conservation. Let's accelerate the advanced nuclear programs. I think we should triple the amount of money we're spending on it.
Video examples
How we need to remake...
end up advancing the cause of the negative people, the negative emotions, the cranks, the paranoids, the cynics, the nihilists. Those are the ones who get amplified by the system. And you can't pay one of these companies to make the world suddenly nice and improve democracy
Video examples
What You Can Do to...
you've inherited a rare genetic mutation that cranks out amyloid beta, and this alone will tip your scale arm to the ground. But for most of us, the genes we inherit will only tip the arm a bit. For example, APOE4 is a gene variant that increases amyloid,
Video examples
The Internet as a...
at a speaker send the text message hidden and now you've made your swanky little Wi-Fi speaker move out the speaker the mp3 player put instead a servo and send an email to your thermostat telling it to crank up the heat and when you get home your
Video examples
How does work...work? -...
We transfer energy into the clock when we turn the crank to raise the heavy metal cylinders inside the clock. When we do this, we are doing positive work, adding energy to the clock, and that energy is stored as gravitational potential energy.
Video examples
What it's really like to...
is that the world just isn't built for us. There's so many ways that we can get overwhelmed. For example, the thing that makes me overwhelmed all the time is loud noises, which means I never crank up my music really loud
Video examples
Saltwater Crocodile...
crank up and start plucking these boys get pretty hot in email examining the nest wouldn't have damaged the eggs in any way the female will return as soon as we're gone to continue to protect her
Video examples
Dare to disagree PIPE...
as a whistle-blower, except that like almost all whistle-blowers, he wasn't a crank at all, he was passionately devoted to the organization and the higher purposes that that organization served.
Video examples
Why we love, why we...
to tell you that they love you. The other main characteristic is motivation. The motor in the brain begins to crank, and you want this person. And last but not least, it is an obsession.
Video examples
Safari Live - Day 320 PIPE...
do apologize about any technical issues then if you maybe saw the roof or the sky whose crank is busy putting on the infrared light as it is getting to that
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
David Means
American Writer
I'm not at all interested in simply reporting what's here right now, or cranking out an entertainment device that's going to touch the widest number of people. I'm interested in digging and excavating as deep as I can go into those small eternal moments and how they expand out, or close in, on the lives of my characters.
Quote examples
Chad Harbach
American Writer
I feel like every time I start up, it's like a truck you have to get into 15th gear, so you very solely crank into that mental space where you feel really immersed in the world of the book and then you can just kind of go. But there's just that few days of frustration to get to that point.
Quote examples
Wayne Static
American Musician
I don't know how these bands did it back in the '70s when they would crank out two records a year and tour at the same time, which is incredible to me. I have so much respect for all those bands working so hard like that.
Quote examples
Eric Carmen
American Musician
I've had a great luxury in my career in that I became a very successful songwriter, which made it unnecessary for me to have to just consistently crank out albums and run off on tour for the sake of supporting myself.
Quote examples
Jay Chandrasekhar
American Actor
The thing about our movies is, we write thirty drafts. That's a very detailed script. Which means that if you try to crank it out week to week in television, it's impossible.
Quote examples
William Dean Howells
American Author
If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank.
Quote examples
Mark Twain
American Writer
A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
Quote examples
Christie Brinkley
American Model
I crank up the music, and I dance around the house.
Quote examples
George Saunders
American Writer
Irony is just honesty with the volume cranked up.
Quote examples
Kate Walsh
American Actress
I still like to make crank calls.
Quote examples
David Means
American Writer
I'm not at all interested in simply reporting what's here right now, or cranking out an entertainment device that's going to touch the widest number of people. I'm interested in digging and excavating as deep as I can go into those small eternal moments and how they expand out, or close in, on the lives of my characters.
Quote examples
Chad Harbach
American Writer
I feel like every time I start up, it's like a truck you have to get into 15th gear, so you very solely crank into that mental space where you feel really immersed in the world of the book and then you can just kind of go. But there's just that few days of frustration to get to that point.
Quote examples
Wayne Static
American Musician
I don't know how these bands did it back in the '70s when they would crank out two records a year and tour at the same time, which is incredible to me. I have so much respect for all those bands working so hard like that.
Quote examples
Eric Carmen
American Musician
I've had a great luxury in my career in that I became a very successful songwriter, which made it unnecessary for me to have to just consistently crank out albums and run off on tour for the sake of supporting myself.
Quote examples
Jay Chandrasekhar
American Actor
The thing about our movies is, we write thirty drafts. That's a very detailed script. Which means that if you try to crank it out week to week in television, it's impossible.
Quote examples
William Dean Howells
American Author
If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank.
Quote examples
Mark Twain
American Writer
A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
Quote examples
Christie Brinkley
American Model
I crank up the music, and I dance around the house.
Quote examples
George Saunders
American Writer
Irony is just honesty with the volume cranked up.
Quote examples
Kate Walsh
American Actress
I still like to make crank calls.
Example 1 of 10
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