crake

American  

[kreyk] / kreɪk /

noun

1. any of several short-billed rails, especially the corn crake.

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crake British  

/ kreɪk /

noun

1. zoology any of several rails that occur in the Old World, such as the corncrake and the spotted crake

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Etymology

Origin of crake

1275–1325; Middle English < Old Norse krākr, krāki crow ¹

Example Sentences

She writes: “Try pronouncing it three times, thus: Oryx oryx oryx. Crake crake crake. You see?”

From New York Times

All that is winged, even the grating corn crake, is painted with a mystical birder’s unworldly rose-colored pianistic glasses.

From Los Angeles Times

The catalogue includes rare species such as the Henderson crake, which lives on only one small Pacific island.

From BBC

The Cedar Beach bird was only the second corn crake recorded in New York State since Grover Cleveland was president.

From New York Times

And like the sea they teemed with invisible life: warblers, bitterns, spotted crakes, otters, water voles and marshland insects like reed leopard moths.

From New York Times