Dictionary

A bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an attached arm perpendicular, or nearly so, to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation to a wheel or other mechanical device; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion.

Example: I grind my coffee by hand with a coffee grinder with a crank handle.

The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft.

Example: Yes, a crank was all it needed to start.

Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.

An ill-tempered or nasty person.

Example: Billy-Bob is a nasty old crank! He chased my cat away.

To turn by means of a crank.

Example: Motorists had to crank their engine by hand.

To turn a crank.

Example: He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.

(of a crank or similar) To turn.

Example: He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.

To cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank.

Example: Crank it up!

Strange, weird, odd.

Sick; unwell

(of a ship) Liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast.

Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated.

A highly addictive phenethylamine stimulant drug, similar to cocaine. Its systematic (IUPAC) name is (S)-N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine.