crank

/kɹæŋk/

noun

1
A bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an attached arm perpendicular, or nearly so, to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation to a wheel or other mechanical device; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion.
“I grind my coffee by hand with a coffee grinder with a crank handle.”
2
The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft.
“Yes, a crank was all it needed to start.”
3
Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.
4
An ill-tempered or nasty person.
“Billy-Bob is a nasty old crank! He chased my cat away.”
5
A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim;
6
A fit of temper or passion.
7
(dated in US) A person who is considered strange or odd by others. They may behave in unconventional ways.
“John is a crank because he talks to himself.”
8
(1800s) A baseball fan.
9
An advocate of a pseudoscience movement.
“That crank next door thinks he’s created cold fusion in his garage.”
10
A twist or turn in speech; word play consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word.
11
A sick person; an invalid.
12
A penis.

1
To turn by means of a crank.
“Motorists had to crank their engine by hand.”
2
To turn a crank.
“He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.”
3
(of a crank or similar) To turn.
“He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.”
4
To cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank.
“Crank it up!”
5
To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining.
“Quit cranking about your spilt milk!”
6
To be running at a high level of output or effort.
“By one hour into the shift, the boys were really cranking.”
7
To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.

1
Strange, weird, odd.
2
Sick; unwell
3
(of a ship) Liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast.
4
Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated.

1
A highly addictive phenethylamine stimulant drug, similar to cocaine. Its systematic (IUPAC) name is (S)-N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine.

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