cran

Etymology 1

Most likely from Goidelic; compare Scottish Gaelic crann (“lot, measure of herring, tree, etc.”).

noun

1. (obsolete) A measure of herrings, either imprecise or sometimes legally specified. It has oftentimes been about 37½ imperial gallons, or ~750 herrings on average (up to 1200 or even ~2500).
   Very flattering indeed has been the success of the fishermen; and many boats have come in loaded, averaging thirty or forty crans each (every cran estimated at 1,000 herrings), and disposed of their cargoes at nine shillings per cran; but the price has been since raised to fifteen shillings. 1800 Dec, Sir Richard Phillips, The Monthly magazine, volume 10, number 66, page 486
   His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish, / Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish. 1938, Louis MacNeice, Bagpipe Music
   […] And fish the knolls on the North Sea Holes And try your luck at the North Shields Gut With a catch of a hundred cran. 1960, Ewan MacColl, BBC radio ballad, Singing the Fishing
2. (obsolete, rare, by extension) A barrel made to hold such a measure.

Etymology 2

noun

1. (music) An embellishment played on the lowest note of a chanter of a bagpipe, consisting of a series of grace notes produced by rapid sequential lifting of the fingers of the lower hand.

Etymology 3

noun

1. Alternative form of qiran