crake

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of several short-billed birds of the family Rallidae, such as the corncrake.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Same as crack.
2. n. A boast.
3. n. A crow; a raven. Compare night-crake.
4. n. A general name for the small rails with short bills shaped somewhat like that of the domestic hen. They are of the family Rallidæ, subfamily Rallinæ, genera Crex, Porzana, etc., and are found in most parts of the world. Among the best-known species are the small spotted crake of Europe, Porzana porzana, and the Carolina crake, sora, or soree of North America, P. carolina. (See cut under Porzana.) Another is the land-rail or corn-crake, Crex pratensis, whose singular note, “crek, crek,” is heard from fields of rye-grass or corn in the early summer. The cry may be so exactly imitated by drawing the blade of a knife across an indented bone, or the thumb over a small-toothed comb, that by these means the bird may be decoyed within sight. It is pretty, the upper part of the body being mottled with darkish-brown, ashen, and warm chestnut tints. It weighs about 6 ounces, and is 10 inches long. These birds make their appearance in England, Scotland, and Ireland in the month of April, and take their departure for warmer climates before the approach of winter. They are occasionally seen on the eastern coast of the United States.
5. To cry like a crake; utter the harsh cry of the corn-crake.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of several birds, of the family Rallidae, that have short bills.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To cry out harshly and loudly, like the bird called crake.
2. v. obsolete To boast; to speak loudly and boastfully.
3. n. obsolete A boast. See crack, n.
4. n. (Zoöl.) Any species or rail of the genera Crex and Porzana; -- so called from its singular cry. See corncrake.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of several short-billed Old World rails