Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A crank used for starting machinery; specifically, in an internal-combustion motor, the crank by which the motor-shaft is turned, by hand, to draw in a charge of the mixture, compress it, and cause the first ignition. The engine will not, as a rule, start from rest until this starting process is performed upon it from without.
Etymologies
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Examples
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The human, obstinate thing started off at the first trial, and probably would have done the same thing last night had we given the starting-crank one more turn.
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In the end he did go on, but not until he, the sergeant, Willie Thornton, and one of the sentries had worked themselves hot at the starting-crank.
Lady Bountiful George A. Birmingham 1907
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it introduced the first electric starter, which quickly caused the difficult and dangerous starting-crank technology to become extinct.
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