ETYM AS. cran; akin to Dutch and LG. craan, German kranich, krahn, Greek geranos, Latin grus, W. and Armor. garan, Old Slav. zeravi, Lith. gerve, Icel. trani, Swed. trana, Dan. trane. Related to Geranium.
1. Large long-necked wading bird of marshes and plains in many parts of the world.
2. Lifts and moves heavy objects; lifting tackle is suspended from a pivoted boom that rotates around a vertical axis.<br /> In engineering, a machine for raising, lowering, or placing in position heavy loads. The three main types are the jib crane, the overhead traveling crane, and the tower crane. Most cranes have the machinery mounted on a revolving turntable. This may be mounted on trucks or be self-propelled, often being fitted with caterpillar tracks.
The main features of a jib crane are a power winch, a rope or cable, and a movable arm or jib. The cable, which carries a pulley block, hangs from the end of the jib and is wound up and down by the winch. The overhead traveling crane, chiefly used in workshops, consists of a fixed horizontal arm, along which runs a trolley carrying the pulley block. Tower cranes, seen on large building sites, have a long horizontal arm able to revolve on top of a tall tower. The arm carries the trolley.

To raise and twist the neck, so as to see better; SYN. stretch out.

In zoology, a large, wading bird of the family Gruidae, with long legs and neck, and powerful wings. Cranes are marsh-and plains-dwelling birds, feeding on plants as well as insects and small animals. They fly well and are usually migratory. Their courtship includes frenzied, leaping dances. They are found in all parts of the world except South America.
The common crane Grus grus is still numerous in many parts of Europe, and winters in Africa and India. It stands over 1 m/3ft high. The plumage of the adult bird is gray, varied with black and white, and a red patch of bare skin on the head and neck. All cranes have suffered through hunting and loss of wetlands; the population of the North American whooping crane G. americana fell to 21 wild birds 1944. Through careful conservation, numbers have now risen to about 200.
The sandhill crane of North America Grus canadensis reaches a height of 1 m/3.5 ft and has grayish plumage, with a red patch on the head. It winters in Mexico and breeds in the far north.

(1845-1915) English artist, designer, and book illustrator. He was influenced by William Morris and became an active socialist in the 1880s.
While apprenticed to W J Linton (1812–1898), a wood engraver, he came under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites. His book illustrations, both for children’s and for adult books, included an edition of Spenser’s Faerie Queene 1894–96.

(1871-1900) US writer. He introduced grim realism into the US novel. His book The Red Badge of Courage 1895 deals vividly with the US Civil War in a prose of impressionist, visionary naturalism.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, he moved to the tenements of New York City to work as a journalist. There he wrote his naturalistic fables of urban misery, the self-published ‘Maggie: A Girl of the Streets: A Story of New York’ 1893, which was rejected by many editors because of its shocking subject matter. He was a war correspondent in Mexico, Greece, and Cuba, the latter assignment inspiring one of his most acclaimed stories, ‘The Open Boat’ 1897, an account of a shipwreck that dramatizes man’s exposure to indifferent nature. He also published two volumes of poetry: The Black Riders 1895 and War is Kind 1899.

(Harold) (1899-1932) US poet. His long mystical poem The Bridge 1930 uses the Brooklyn Bridge as a symbolic key to the harmonizing myth of modern America, seeking to link humanity’s present with its past in an epic continuum. His work, which was influenced by T S Eliot, is notable for its exotic diction and dramatic rhetoric.
He committed suicide by jumping overboard from a steamer bringing him back to the US after a visit to Mexico.

1. City in Missouri (USA); zip code 65633.
2. City in Texas (USA); zip code 79731.
3. Town in Indiana (USA).