crank

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an eccentric person; a bent arm-and-handle used to turn a shaft

   He turned the crank to raise the bucket from the well.

Simplified etymology

The mechanical crank goes back to Old English cranc, recorded in crancstæf, the name of a weaver’s implement. Its underlying sense was “something bent together,” and it is related to Old English crincan, “to bend.” The senses referring to an eccentric or bad-tempered person arose from a dialect word meaning “weak” or “in poor health.”

From Old English 'cranc' (in 'crancstaef', a weaving implement), related to the Germanic root meaning 'bend, crook'. The 'eccentric person' sense derives from the idea of a twisted or bent disposition.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary