Obs. or arch. [a. F. crâne, ad. med.L. crānium skull.] The skull; = CRANIUM.

1

1541.  R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg. The brayne-panne skulle or crane.

2

1597.  Lowe, Chirurg. (1634), 312. Fracture of the crane.

3

1620.  Venner, Via Recta, iii. 63. The Crane is of an hard and fibrous substance.

4

1824.  Medwin, Convers. w. Byron (1832), I. 83. A skull that had probably belonged to some jolly friar … The crane was filled with claret, and … passed about.

5

  fig.  1840.  Browning, Sordello, I. 277. Till Autumn spoiled their [poppies’] fleering quite with rain, And, turbanless, a coarse, brown, rattling crane Lay bare.

6