crank
part of speech
noun (a crank, cranks); verb (crank, cranks, cranked, cranking)
meaning for a pupil
1) (noun) A handle or bar bent at a right angle that you turn round and round to make a machine work, like on an old car engine, a pencil sharpener or a jack-in-the-box. tree →
2) (noun, informal) A person with strange, fixed ideas who will not listen to evidence: «a crank who thinks the Earth is flat». tree →
3) (noun, US, informal) A grumpy, bad-tempered person. tree →
4) (verb) To turn a crank to start or move something: «crank the handle». tree →
5) (verb, informal) Crank up: to turn up the volume, heat or power: «crank up the music». tree →
6) (slang, US) Crank: a slang name for an illegal drug (methamphetamine) — dangerous and against the law. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and D&T lessons about simple machines, a crank turns rotation into back-and-forth motion (and the other way), as in bicycle pedals (the cranks) or a wind-up toy. In stories and comedy, a «crank call» is a prank phone call. Phrases: «crank the handle», «crank up», «crank out» (produce lots quickly), «crank call», «a bit of a crank».
examples
- In the old days, drivers had to crank the engine by hand. tree →
- The pedals of a bike are attached to cranks. tree →
- Turn the crank and the music box plays. tree →
- Can you crank up the heating? It's freezing. tree →
- Some cranks still claim the Earth is flat. tree →
- Grandpa is a bit of a crank before his morning coffee. tree →
- The factory cranks out thousands of toys a day. tree →
- Don't make crank calls; it is mean and can be illegal. tree →
note
Countable noun: a crank, cranks. «Cranky» (adjective) means grumpy or irritable. Calling a person a «crank» is unkind. The drug sense is US slang; illegal drugs are dangerous. Related: «crankshaft», the part of an engine that turns.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «crank» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.