crane

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“
Later in the week, the crane was again spotted wandering on Colley Avenue, in danger of being hit by a car.

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Definitions (44)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. noun Any of various large wading birds of the family Gruidae, having a long neck, long legs, and a long bill.
  2. noun A similar bird, such as a heron.
  3. noun A machine for hoisting and moving heavy objects by means of cables attached to a movable boom.
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Examples (50)

  • A sand-bill crane, which is very hard to bring down, stood on a pedestal by itself. —  BOOTS AND SADDLES: OR LIFE IN DAKOTA WITH GENERAL CUSTER
  • I have to climb under the extremely heavy A Camera which is hung on a crane, and lie on my back over a ledge where my sabre has just dropped down on Mustafar. —  starwars.com Blogs
  • I then pray nobody touches the controls of the crane which is for now securely holding the one tonne camera inches above my head - that would end my trip real quick! —  starwars.com Blogs
  • Police and fire crews are working to remove the crane, which is still on a 45-degree angle outside the front of the house at Matson Cres, Miranda. —  Daily Telegraph | Top Stories
  • Whether it's supplying steel girders or operating a front-loader or a crane, building the new Yankee Stadium requires that we work with the best and the brightest in New York's construction business.
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This word has been looked up 164 times.

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Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English cran; see gerə-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English crane, from Anglo-Saxon cran = Middle Dutch kraene, Dutch kraan(-vogel) = Middle Low German krān, krāne, Low German kran = Middle High German krane; also with suffix: Anglo-Saxon cornoch = Old High German cranuh, chranih, Middle High German cranich, kranech, German kranich = (with change of kr to tr) Icelandic trani = Swedish trana = Danish trane = Welsh garan = Cornish Breton garan (the Gaelic and Irish word is different, namely, corr) = Greek γέρανος (see geranium) = Old Bulgarian zeravi = Lithuanian gerwe, a crane. L. grus (later Italian grua = Spanish diminutive grulla = Portuguese grou = Provencal grua = French grue), a crane, is perhaps related. Root unknown. See crane.
  2. from crane, n.
  3. A particular use of crane, the arm of the contrivance being likened to the neck of a crane. This use is not found in Middle English or Anglo-Saxon, and is prob. of Dutch origin: cf. Middle Dutch kraene, Dutch kraan = Low German kran (later also German krahn = Swedish Danish kran) = French crône, a crane (a machine), = Greek γέρανος, a crane (a machine), a particular use of the word for crane, a bird. The resemblance of Gaelic and Irish crann, a beam, mast, bar, tree, later crannachan, a crane (Irish also a craner), is prob. accidental.
  4. from crane, v.
 

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/kreɪn/
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