• n. 曲柄；奇想
• adj. 易怒的
• vt. 裝曲柄
• n. (Crank)人名；(英)克蘭克

來自PIE*ger, 轉(zhuǎn)，彎，圍，詞源同cramp, crook. 即腦袋打彎的，跟別人想的不一樣的。

crank

crank: [OE] There appears to be a link between the words crank, cringe, and crinkle. They share the meaning element ‘bending’ or ‘curling up’ (which later developed metaphorically into ‘becoming weak or sick’, as in the related German krank ‘ill’), and probably all came from a prehistoric Germanic base *krank-. In Old English the word crank appeared only in the compound crancstoef, the name for a type of implement used by weavers; it is not recorded in isolation until the mid-15th century, when it appears in a Latin-English dictionary as a translation of Latin haustrum ‘winch’.

The adjective cranky [18] is no doubt related, but quite how closely is not clear. It may derive from an obsolete thieves’ slang term crank meaning ‘person feigning sickness to gain money’, which may have connections with German krank. Modern English crank ‘cranky person’ is a backformation from the adjective, coined in American English in the 19th century.
=> cringe, crinkle

crank (n.)

"handle for turning a revolving axis," Old English *cranc, implied in crancst?f "a weaver's instrument," crencestre "female weaver, spinster," from Proto-Germanic base *krank-, and related to crincan "to bend, yield" (see crinkle, cringe). English retains the literal sense of the ancient root, while German and Dutch krank "sick," formerly "weak, small," is from a figurative use. The 1825 supplement to Jamieson's Scottish dictionary has crank "infirm, weak, etc."

The sense of "an eccentric person," especially one who is irrationally fixated, is first recorded 1833, said to be from the crank of a barrel organ, which makes it play the same tune over and over; but more likely a back-formation from cranky (q.v.). Meaning "methamphetamine" attested by 1989.

crank (v.)

1590s, "to zig-zag," from crank (n.). Meaning "to turn a crank" is first attested 1908, with reference to automobile engines. Related: Cranked; cranking.

1. Just crank up your hearing aid a peg or two.

把助聽器調(diào)高一兩個刻度就可以。

來自柯林斯例句

2. The Prime Minister called Councillor Marshall "a crank"

首相稱馬歇爾議員為“怪人”。

來自柯林斯例句

3. He looked like a crank.

他看上去像個怪人。

來自柯林斯例句

4. He was called a crank at first.

一開始他被叫做思想怪異者.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

5. It's time to crank up the air conditioning.

該打開空調(diào)了.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》