Crank vs Curmudgeon - What's the difference?
crank | curmudgeon |
(slang) strange, weird, odd
sick; unwell; infirm
(nautical, of a ship) Liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast
Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated.
* Udall
* Mrs. Stowe
A bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an attached arm perpendicular, or nearly so, to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation to a wheel or other mechanical device; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion.(rfex)
The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft.
(archaic) Any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage.
* (rfdate) Spenser:
(informal) An ill-tempered or nasty person
A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim; crotchet; also, a fit of temper or passion.
* Carlyle
(informal, British, dated in US) A person who is considered strange or odd by others. They may behave in unconventional ways.
* 1882 January 14, in Pall Mall Gazette :
(informal) An advocate of a pseudoscience movement.
(US, slang) methamphetamine.
(rare) A twist or turn in speech; a conceit consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word.
* (rfdate) Milton:
(obsolete) A sick person; an invalid.
* Burton
(slang) penis.
* 2013 , Reggie Chesterfield, Scoundrel (page 57)
To turn by means of a crank .
To turn a crank .
To turn.
To cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank.
To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining.
To be running at a high level of output or effort.
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(dated) To run with a winding course; to double; to crook; to wind and turn.
* (rfdate) :
(archaic) A miser.
An ill-tempered (and frequently old) person full of stubborn ideas or opinions.
* 1996 , Jeet Heer, Gravitas ,
* 2006 , The New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/18/technology/circuits/19POGUE-EMAIL.html?ex=1179201600&en=f058e59799358d61&ei=5070]
* 2007 , The Times [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/modern_times/article1726275.ece]
In archaic|lang=en terms the difference between crank and curmudgeon
is that crank is (archaic) any bend, turn, or winding, as of a passage while curmudgeon is (archaic) a miser.As nouns the difference between crank and curmudgeon
is that crank is a bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an attached arm perpendicular, or nearly so, to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation to a wheel or other mechanical device; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion while curmudgeon is (archaic) a miser.As an adjective crank
is (slang) strange, weird, odd.As a verb crank
is to turn by means of a crank .crank
English
Adjective
(er)- He who was, a little before, bedrid, was now crank and lusty.
- If you strong electioners did not think you were among the elect, you would not be so crank about it.
Noun
(en noun)- Yes, a crank was all it needed to start .
- So many turning cranks these have, so many crooks.
- Billy-Bob is a nasty old crank ! He chased my cat away.
- Violent of temper; subject to sudden cranks .
- John is a crank because he talks to himself .
- Persons whom the Americans since Guiteau's trial have begun to designate as ‘cranks’ —that is to say, persons of disordered mind, in whom the itch of notoriety supplies the lack of any higher ambition.
- That crank next door thinks he's created cold fusion in his garage.
- Danny got abscesses from shooting all that bathtub crank .
- Quips, and cranks , and wanton wiles.
- Thou art a counterfeit crank , a cheater.
- It was going to be hard not to blow with a girl like her sucking on his crank .
Synonyms
* See also .Verb
(en verb)- Motorists had to crank their engine by hand.
- He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank.
- He's been cranking all day and yet it refuses to crank .
- I turn the key and crank the engine; yet it doesn't turn over
- Crank it up!
- Quit cranking about your spilt milk!
- By one hour into the shift, the boys were really cranking .
- See how this river comes me cranking in.
Derived terms
* crank axle * crank call * crankcase * crank out * crankpin * crank pin * crank shaft * crankstart * crank start * crank up * crank wheel * cranky * turn someone's crankcurmudgeon
English
Noun
(en noun)- There's a cranky curmudgeon working at the hospital who gives all the patients and other doctors flak.
- John Doe's old age and stubborn aversion to new ideas make him a curmudgeon of a candidate.
Autumn 1996
- After a while, as cultural debates became more polarized, the editorial tone of the New Criterion went from being charmingly curmudgeon to being bitterly shrill.
- How to Be a Curmudgeon on the Internet
- How should I respond, without appearing to be a curmudgeon ?