1. crank - Noun
2. crank - Adjective
3. crank - Verb
4. crank - Adjective Satellite
5. Crank - Proper noun
A bent portion of an axle, or shaft, or an arm keyed at right angles to the end of a shaft, by which motion is imparted to or received from it; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion. See Bell crank.
Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.
A twist or turn in speech; a conceit consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word.
A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim; crotchet; also, a fit of temper or passion.
A person full of crotchets; one given to fantastic or impracticable projects; one whose judgment is perverted in respect to a particular matter.
A sick person; an invalid.
Sick; infirm.
Liable to careen or be overset, as a ship when she is too narrow, or has not sufficient ballast, or is loaded too high, to carry full sail.
Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated.
To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.
Source: Webster's dictionaryA man with a new idea is a crank until he succeeds. Mark Twain
Life gets boring, someone invents another necessity, and once again we turn the crank on the screwjack of progress hoping that nobody gets screwed. Larry Wall
Perseverance must have some practical end, or it does not avail the man possessing it. A person without a practical end in view becomes a crank or an idiot. Such persons fill our asylums. Alexander Graham Bell
The successful scientist and the raving crank are separated by the quality of their inspirations. But I suspect that this amounts, in practice, to a difference, not so much in ability to notice analogies as in ability to reject foolish analogies and pursue helpful ones. Richard Dawkins
Crank is to coffee what sexual homicide is to a goodnight kiss. Jim Goad
You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls. What is wrong with you? Jon Stewart