crane

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various large wading birds of the family Gruidae, having a long neck, long legs, and a long bill.
2. n. A similar bird, such as a heron.
3. n. A machine for hoisting and moving heavy objects by means of cables attached to a movable boom.
4. n. Any of various devices with a swinging arm, as in a fireplace for suspending a pot.
5. v. To hoist or move with or as if with a crane.
6. v. To strain and stretch (the neck, for example) in order to see better.
7. v. To stretch one's neck toward something for a better view.
8. v. To be irresolute; hesitate.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A large grallatorial bird with very long legs and neck, a long straight bill with pervious nostrils near its middle, the head usually naked, at least in part, the hind toe elevated, and the inner secondaries usually enlarged; any bird of the family Gruidæ. There are about 15 closely similar species, found in many parts of the world, most of them included in the genus Grus. The common crane of Europe is G. cinerea; it is about 4 feet long. (See cut under Grus.) The common American or sand-hill crane is G. canadensis. A statelier and larger species is the whooping crane, G. americana, which is white, with black primaries. The gigantic crane of Asia is G. leucogeranus, and a common Indian crane is G. antigone. The wattled crane of South Africa is Grus (Bugeranus) carunculata. The crown-crane, or crowned crane, is of the genus Balearica. The Numidian crane, or demoiselle, and the Stanley crane are elegant species of the genus Anthropoides.
2. n. Popularly and erroneously, one of sundry very large grallatorial birds likened to cranes, as herons and storks. Thus, the great blue heron of North America (Ardea herodias) is popularly known as the blue crane; and the name gigantic crane has been erroneously given to the adjutant-bird.
3. n. The constellation Grus (which see).
4. n. Same as crinet, 1.
5. To be stretched out like the neck of a crane.
6. Hence In hunting, to look before one leaps; pull up at a dangerous jump.
7. To stretch or bend (the neck) like a crane: as, he craned his neck to see what was on the other side of the pillar.
8. n. A machine for moving weights, having two motions, one a direct lift and the other horizontal. The latter may be circular, radial, or universal. The parts of the simple crane are an upright post having a motion on its vertical axis, a jib or swinging arm jointed at its lower end to the post and tied to the post at its outer or upper end, and hoisting tackle connecting the motive power at the foot of the post with the load to be lifted, which is suspended from the end of the jib. Cranes are, however, made in a variety of forms, differing more or less from this type. Thus, a rotary crane is a crane in which the jib has simply a rotary motion about the axis of the post, moving with the post; a traveling crane is a crane in which the load can be given successively two horizontal motions at right angles with each other. Rotary cranes, again, have several forms, as that in which the load is suspended from the end of the jib, and the more complex kind, in which the load is suspended from a carriage that travels on a horizontal arm at the top of the jib, and gives the load a movement along the radius of the circle formed by the rotation of the jib. Another minor type is the derrick-crane, which employs guys to hold the post in position. Walking and locomotive cranes are portable forms, which are also called traveling cranes. Cranes are operated by any kind of power and with any form of hoisting apparatus suited to the work to be done. See also cut under abutment-crane.
9. n. A machine for weighing goods, constructed on the principle of the preceding. Such machines are common in market-towns in Ireland. See craner.
10. n. An iron arm or beam attached to the back or side of a fireplace and hinged so as to be movable horizontally, used for supporting pots or kettles over a fire.
11. n. pl. Naut., supports of iron or timber at a vessel's side for stowing boats or spars upon.
12. n. A siphon or bent pipe for drawing liquor out of a cask.
13. To cause to rise as by a crane: followed by up.
14. n. Same as cran.
15. n. A crane mounted upon a car and fitted to run or traverse on a railway laid upon the ground, and either self-propelling or driven by a locomotive.

Wiktionary

1. n. A large bird of the order Gruiformes and the family Gruidae having long legs and a long neck which it extends when flying.
2. n. A mechanical lifting device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.
3. v. transitive To extend (one's neck).
4. v. transitive To raise or lower with a crane.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) A wading bird of the genus Grus, and allied genera, of various species, having a long, straight bill, and long legs and neck.
2. n. Any arm which swings about a vertical axis at one end, used for supporting a suspended weight.
3. n. 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 See Illust. of Derrick.
4. n. An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace, for supporting kettles, etc., over a fire.
5. n. A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
6. n. (Naut.) A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc., -- generally used in pairs. See Crotch, 2.
7. n. (Zoöl.), Local, U. S. The American blue heron (Ardea herodias).
8. v. rare To cause to rise; to raise or lift, as by a crane; -- with up.
9. v. To stretch, as a crane stretches its neck.
10. v. to reach forward with head and neck, in order to see better.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. stretch (the neck) so as to see better
2. n. United States poet (1899-1932)
3. n. United States writer (1871-1900)
4. n. large long-necked wading bird of marshes and plains in many parts of the world
5. n. lifts and moves heavy objects; lifting tackle is suspended from a pivoted boom that rotates around a vertical axis
6. n. a small constellation in the southern hemisphere near Phoenix