1. An apparatus for supplying water from an elevated tank (now esp. to the tender of a locomotive).
1658. T. Willsford, Nat. Secrets, 156. From hence it is, that the Air in Water-cranes and pumps being sucked out, the waters … are forced to rise.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Water-crane, a goose-neck apparatus for supplying water from an elevated tank to the tender of a locomotive engine.
2. A crane worked by hydraulic power.
1849. J. Glynn Constr. Cranes, 112. The Water Cranes shown in the engravings are Two Self-Acting Machines.
