crane

Etymology 1

From Middle English cran, from Old English cran (“crane”), from Proto-West Germanic *kran, from Proto-Germanic *kranô (“crane”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”). Cognate with Scots cran (“crane”), Dutch kraan (“crane”), German Kran (“crane”). The mechanical devices are named from their likeness to the bird.

noun

1. Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.
   Aquatic birds of various kinds are very numerous, such as geese, darters (Flotus melanogaster), scissor-bills (Rhynchops nigra), adjutants (Leptoptilos argala), pelicans, cormorants, cranes (Grus antigone, in Burmese gyoja), whimbrels, plovers, and ibises. 1876, "Burmah" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 552
2. (US, dialect) Ardea herodias, the great blue heron.
3. A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.
   Large cranes were virtually non-existent in the areas I worked with this truck, so we jacked everything on and off[.] 2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 111
4. An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc. over the fire.
5. A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
6. (nautical) A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc.; generally used in pairs.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To extend (one's neck).
   and my bachelor's hearth is imbedded where by much craning of head and neck I can catch sight of a sycamore in the Square garden, 1879, George Eliot, Impressions of Theophrastus Such
   Didcot had one definite pleasure. We knew that little boys would be going up and down the platform singing out, "Banbury cakes! Banbury cakes!" And mother would crane out and buy some, just to encourage the crew. 1948 November and December, “By Broad Gauge to Cornwall”, in Railway Magazine, page 357
   I'm gonna be a star and people will crane necks To get a glimpse of me and see if I am having sex 2008, Rivers Cuomo (lyrics and music), “Troublemaker”, in Weezer (Red Album), performed by Weezer
2. (transitive) To raise or lower with, or as if with, a crane.
   What engines, what instruments are used in craning up a soul, sunk below the centre, to the highest heavens. 1693, William Bates, Sermons preach'd on Several Occasions
   an upstart craned up to the height he has 1619, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, The Fatal Dowry
3. (intransitive) To pull up before a jump.

Etymology 2

From Middle English crane, cranee, from Old French cran, from Medieval Latin crānium.

noun

1. (obsolete) The cranium.

Etymology 3

noun

1. Alternative form of cran (“measure of herrings”)