crank

noun

/kræŋk/

(disapproving) a person with ideas that other people find strange（想法）古怪的人 synonym eccentric
- Vegans are no longer dismissed as cranks.素食者不再被视为有怪癖的人。
- Everybody famous gets crank calls and letters.每个名人都会接到奇怪的电话和信件。
(North American English) a person who easily gets angry or annoyed脾气坏的人；容易恼怒的人
- The old crank next door can’t stand the sound of our lawnmower.隔壁的旧曲柄受不了我们割草机的声音。
a bar and handle in the shape of an L that you pull or turn to produce movement in a machine, etc.（L 字形）曲柄，曲轴Topics Engineeringc2

Word Originnoun sense 3 Old English cranc (recorded in crancstæf, denoting a weaver's implement), related to crincan ‘bend, yield, fall in battle’, of Germanic origin .

crank

verb

/kræŋk/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they crank	/kræŋk/ /kræŋk/
he / she / it cranks	/kræŋks/ /kræŋks/
past simple cranked	/kræŋkt/ /kræŋkt/
past participle cranked	/kræŋkt/ /kræŋkt/
-ing form cranking	/ˈkræŋkɪŋ/ /ˈkræŋkɪŋ/

Phrasal Verbs

crank something (up) to make something turn or move by using a crank用曲柄转动（或启动）
- to crank an engine用曲柄发动引擎
- (figurative) He has a limited time to crank the reforms into action.他启动各项改革的时间很有限。
Topics Engineeringc2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
Crank is used with these nouns as the object:
engine
Word Originverb Old English cranc (recorded in crancstæf, denoting a weaver's implement), related to crincan ‘bend, yield, fall in battle’, of Germanic origin .