Forms: 1–3 cran, 3 cron, krane, 3– crane. (Also 4 crone, Sc. cren, 5 craane, 6 crayne, craune, 5– Sc. cran, 6–7 craine, 7–8 crain.) [OE. cran corresponds to MG. kran, MLG. krân, krôn. Cf. MDu. crāne, Du. kraan:—OLG. krano, kranu, OHG. with guttural suffix, chranuh, chranih, MHG. kranech, kranich, G. kranich. The corresp. Norse forms have initial tr- for kr-, ON. trani, Sw. trana, Da. trane.]
1. A large grallatorial bird of the family Gruidæ, characterized by very long legs, neck, and bill. The name belongs originally to the common European crane, Grus cinerea, of an ashy-gray color, formerly abundant in marshy places in Great Britain, and prized as food, but now extinct; about 15 closely allied species are found in other lands.
Among these are the common American or Sand-hill Crane (G. canadensis), and Whooping Crane (G. americana). The Crown Crane or Demoiselle, Numidian, and Stanley Crane of Africa belong to allied genera. The Adjutant or Gigantic Crane is a species of Stork.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 132/21. Grus, cran.
c. 1205. Lay., 20163. Swa doð þe wilde cron [c. 1275 crane].
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 472/342. Crannes and swannes.
c. 1300. Havelok, 1726. The beste mete That king or cayser wolde ete; Kranes, lampreys, and gode sturgun.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxii. 103. Þe Pigmens, whilk er men of litill stature … feight with Craanes comounly.
1491. in Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl., I. 182. Item, til a man, for a cran … vs.
1555. Eden, Decades, 16. They sawe flockes of great cranes twyse as bygge as owres.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 21. Like a Crane his necke was long and fyne.
a. 1605. Polwart, Flyting w. Montgomerie, 713. Like an cran, in mounting soone orethrowen, That must take aye nine steps before shee flye.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), II. 513. The Crane, that has totally forsaken this country, bred familiarly in our marshes.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., i. (1858), 82. Large red-legged cranes, three feet high, with black and white wings.
b. Applied locally to other large grallatorial birds, as herons and storks; also to the Shag or Crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax graculus).
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 332. The Shag, called in the North of England, the Crane.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Crane … a name improperly given in many parts of England to the shagg or small cormorant.
a. 1767. M. Bruce, Lochleven. The slow-wing’d crane moved heavily o’er the lea.
1873. Q. Rev., CXXXV. 159. Cranmere … a haunt of herons (still called ‘cranes’ in Devonshire).
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 145. Heron … Crane (Somerset; North-Hants; Westmoreland; Lancashire; Ireland; Scotland).
c. Astron. The southern constellation Grus.
1867. Lockyer, Guillemin’s Heavens (ed. 2), 335. The Phœnix, below which … are found Toucan, the Crane [etc.].
2. A machine for raising and lowering heavy weights; in its usual form it consists of a vertical post capable of rotation on its axis, a projecting arm or ‘jib’ over which passes the chain or rope from which the weight is suspended, and a barrel round which the chain or rope is wound. [So F. grue, G. kran, krahn, kranich].
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVII. 608. Ane cren [v.r. crane] thai haf gert dress vp hey Rynand on quhelis.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 127. That they shuld doo make … a crane sufficient and able to take vp from the water of Thamis the weight of a tonne.
1545. Act 37 Hen. VIII., c. 12 § 9. Houses, with Key or Wharf, having any Crane or Gibet belonging to the same.
1656. Cowley, Davideis, II. 526. Some from the quarries hew out massy stone, Some draw it up with cranes.
1788. Trans. Soc. Enc. Arts, VI. 325. A Model of a Crane for Wharfs.
1868. Morn. Star, 24 Feb. A terrific … gale made a great breach between the lighthouse and the breakwater, demolishing the machinery and cranes.
3. A name given to various other mechanical contrivances: a. A machine for weighing goods, constructed on the principle of the crane described under 2. b. An upright revolving axle with a horizontal arm fixed by a fireplace, for suspending a pot or kettle over the fire. c. Naut. (pl.) Projecting pieces of iron or timber on board a ship, to support a boat or spar. d. Turning. A spindle with a bent arm, serving as a lever (quot. 1725). e. Carriage-building. (See quot. 1794; and cf. crane-neck in 7.)
1725. W. Halfpenny, Sound Building, 56. The Eyes in which the Spindle of the Crane turns.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), E iij b. A double rope-netting, supported by double cranes of iron.
1794. Felton, Carriages, Gloss., Cranes, strong iron bars which form the sides of the upper carriage, and unite the back and fore timbers, shaped like a crane’s neck for the purpose of the fore wheels to pass under.
1864. Webster, Crane … (b.) A similar arm turning on a vertical axis or support, in a fireplace for supporting kettles, etc. over a fire.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Crane … Also pieces of iron or timber at a vessel’s sides, used to stow boats or spars upon.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., Crane … A forked post to support a boom or spare spar on deck.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., Crane, the iron arm over a fire from which the ‘crook’ hangs.
4. A bent tube, used to draw liquor out of a vessel; a siphon. [So G. kran.]
1634. J. B[ate], Myst. Nat. & Art, 1. Take a Crane (that is a crooked hollow Cane) one end whereof, let be somewhat longer then the other.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 321/1. Brewers by a Leaden Crane draw their Wort from one Cooler to another.
1771. trans. Van Swieten’s Comm. Boerhaave’s Aph., § 303 III. 35. An instrument inflected like a siphon or crain.
1846. Joyce, Sci. Dial., Hydrost., xvii. 182. That is called a distiller’s crane or syphon.
5. An overhanging tube for supplying water to the tender of a locomotive; a water-crane.
6. attrib. or as adj. † a. Crane-colored, ashen gray (quot. 1517). b. Crane-like; long and lanky. c. Of or pertaining to a crane or the cranes.
1517. in Kerry, St. Lawrence, Reading (1883), 104. ijo Copes of satten russet & crane.
1697. Lond. Gaz., No. 3328/4. A black Gelding … a long Crane Neck.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 11. The feet are not furnished with sharp claws, as in others of the crane kind.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 250. Their crane stems are often burnt for charcoal.
1872. Tennyson, Last Tourn., 723. Mocking at the much ungainliness … and long crane legs of Mark.
7. Comb. a. in sense 1, as crane-flock; crane-battle, a battle with cranes (attributed to the fabled Pygmies); crane-colo(u)r, the color of the common crane, ashy gray; also attrib.; crane-colo(u)red a., of this color; † crane-feather, attrib. of the color of crane’s feathers; crane-neck, an iron bar bent like a crane’s neck uniting the back and front timbers in a carriage (= CRANE 3 e); also attrib.; crane-necked adj., (a) of a carriage, having a crane-neck; (b) having a long neck like a crane’s; crane-vulture, a name for the Secretary-bird.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 582. Their … *Crane-battells are fables.
1517. Will of R. Aleyne (Somerset Ho.). *Crane colour.
1524. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 176. A gowne of crayne colour furrid with white budge.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 964. The fourth hath broad horns of crane colour.
1549. in Surrey Church Goods (1869), 100. One cope of *cranecoloryd sylke.
1593. Lanc. Wills, II. 79. Tow Kirtles one of craine colored satten.
1557. Will of J. Rowe (Somerset Ho.). My *cranefether doblete.
c. 1892. Whittier, To A. K., 54. As in air The *crane-flock leaves no trace of passage.
1686. Lond. Gaz., No. 2136/4. A *Crane-neck Coach lined with figured Velvet.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 23, ¶ 2. A Lady’s Chariot … had a Crane-Neck, and hung with twice the Air that hers did.
1698. M. Lister, Journ. Paris (1699), 12. They [coaches] are all *Crane-Neckt, and the Wheels before very low.
1822. Monthly Mag., Oct., 215/1. The coach-body was suspended, by thick straps, from four, of what are now, for distinction-sake, called crane-necked, springs.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. iii. One of those purse-mouthed, crane-necked, clean-brushed … individuals.
1840. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Spectre of Tapp. The man was fitting straps on a light pair of crane-necked spurs.
1885. J. R. Coryell, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 424/1. The secretary-bird (Serpentarius secretarius), or *crane-vulture.
b. In sense 2 or 3, as crane-barge, a barge carrying a crane; crane-chair, ? a chair lowered and raised by a crane; crane-house, a shed or building in which a crane stands; crane-keeper, craneman, a man in charge of a crane; crane-post, the vertical post or axis of a crane; crane-shaft, (a) = crane-post; (b) see quot. and 3 e; crane-wheel, a tread-wheel by which a crane was formerly worked.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Crane-barge, a low flat-floored lump, fitted for the purpose of carrying a crane, in aid of marine works.
1769. De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit., I. 21. Baths are … supplied with … Sea-water, And for the … Convenience of such as … have not strength to plunge themselves, there is a *Crane Chair of particular Contrivance.
1705. Lond. Gaz., No. 4105/4. The Stone-Wharf, with a Crane and *Crane-House.
1558. Act 1 Eliz., c. ii. § 7. Any Wharfenger, *Cranekeeper … Weigher or other Officer.
1300. in Riley, Mem. London, p. xxi. Richard the Fruter…, *Creneman.
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 18. Craneman, a lad … whose business is to hoist the corves of coals on to the rolleys with the crane.
1891. Daily News, 6 Feb., 4/8. The tippers and crane men at the Bute Docks [printed Ducks].
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 644. In Morrison’s steam crane, the *crane-post forms the steam-cylinder.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages, Gloss., *Crane shaft, wood instead of iron for [carriage cranes].
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VI. iii. 105. A Man turning a *Crane-Wheel or Grindstone.
1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., III. xxxi. 251. In a crane-wheel the power is … applied … by a man walking within the wheel.
