crane
noun
any large wading bird of the family Gruidae, characterized by long legs, bill, and neck and an elevated hind toe.
crane
1 American
[kreyn]
/ kreɪn /
noun
-
cranes
plural
-
any large wading bird of the family Gruidae, characterized by long legs, bill, and neck and an elevated hind toe.
-
(not used scientifically) any of various similar birds of other families, as the great blue heron.
-
Machinery. a device for lifting and moving heavy weights in suspension.
-
any of various similar devices, as a horizontally swinging arm by a fireplace, used for suspending pots over the fire.
-
Movies, Television. a vehicle having a long boom on which a camera can be mounted for taking shots from high angles.
-
Nautical. any of a number of supports for a boat or spare spar on the deck or at the side of a vessel.
-
Astronomy. Crane, the constellation Grus.
verb (used with object)
-
cranes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
craned,
past participle, past
-
craning
present participle
-
to hoist, lower, or move by or as by a crane.
-
to stretch (the neck) as a crane does.
verb (used without object)
-
cranes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
craned,
past participle, past
-
craning
present participle
-
to stretch out one's neck, especially to see better.
-
to hesitate at danger, difficulty, etc.
Crane
2
American
[kreyn]
/ kreɪn /
noun
-
(Harold) Hart, 1899–1932, U.S. poet.
-
Stephen, 1871–1900, U.S. novelist, poet, and short-story writer.
crane
1
British
/ kreɪn /
noun
-
any large long-necked long-legged wading bird of the family Gruidae, inhabiting marshes and plains in most parts of the world except South America, New Zealand, and Indonesia: order Gruiformes See also demoiselle whooping crane
-
(not in ornithological use) any similar bird, such as a heron
-
a device for lifting and moving heavy objects, typically consisting of a moving boom, beam, or gantry from which lifting gear is suspended See also gantry
-
films a large trolley carrying a boom, on the end of which is mounted a camera
verb
-
(tr) to lift or move (an object) by or as if by a crane
-
to stretch out (esp the neck), as to see over other people's heads
-
(intr) (of a horse) to pull up short before a jump
Crane
2
British
/ kreɪn /
noun
-
( Harold ) Hart. 1899–1932, US poet; author of The Bridge (1930)
-
Stephen. 1871–1900, US novelist and short-story writer, noted particularly for his novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895)
-
Walter. 1845–1915, British painter, illustrator of children's books, and designer of textiles and wallpaper
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cranesimple
-
cranessimple
-
have cranedperfect
-
has cranedperfect
-
am craningprogressive
-
are craningprogressive
-
is craningprogressive
-
have been craningperfect progressive
-
has been craningperfect progressive
Past
-
cranedsimple
-
had cranedperfect
-
was craningprogressive
-
were craningprogressive
-
had been craningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crane
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English cran; cognate with German Kran, Greek géranos
Explanation
A crane is an elegant white bird with a very long neck. You're most likely to see cranes wading near shorelines and in marshy areas. There are fifteen species of cranes, and almost all of them are endangered. Cranes are known for their odd mating dances and for the fact that they typically mate for life. When you crane your neck, you stretch it in order to get a better view of something — like a crane might do. The tall machine also known as a crane is clearly named for the long-necked bird as well.
Vocabulary lists containing crane
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They located an original spindle and replicated it, including the complex crane cutouts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Northumbria Police said it was called to South Shields Port of Tyne at 13:00 BST after "it was reported that, for reasons yet to be established, a ship had collided with a crane".
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
There is also a separate structure on the property that Heigl used as her personal art studio, having transported it in using a crane, the description reveals.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
Claw machine lover Neiki Lee carefully lowers the metal jaws of a crane with a joystick into a pool of prizes, only to have the small toy slip from its clutches again and again.
From Barron's ● May 31, 2026
Mitsue and Eiji liked the golden crane best.
From "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr
In 2024, Microsoft signed a 20-year power deal with Constellation Energy that will restart the undamaged reactor at Three Mile Island, now renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
Crane said in the UK, Europe, the US, China, and elsewhere, there have been "huge developments" in this direction.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
Constellation is aiming to restart the Crane nuclear plant by next year to power Microsoft’s data centers.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
If not Bashir, would England go back to Jack Leach, Liam Dawson, or even leg-spinner Mason Crane, whose only Test cap came more than eight years ago?
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026
In the good times the company had grossed $6 million a year, with yards in Crane and Odessa and Kermit.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Working under the bridge's blue lights, dozens of Taiwanese army combat engineers assisted by cranes and trucks set up layers of concrete and steel barriers, barbed wire and Hesco walls along the nearly one-kilometre-long bridge.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
The company has also proposed the use of AI-assisted remote-control cranes and driverless vehicles, it added.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Visitors to the nation’s capital are being met with cranes hanging over the White House and construction at the site of the demolished East Wing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
That has fuelled a construction boom, filling the skyline with cranes, creating traffic bottlenecks and putting a strain on key services.
From Barron's ● May 31, 2026
The other was the string of paper cranes that had been made by the students at Oakland High School.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
Most of the home’s antiques are Spanish and Peruvian, with some French, Chinese and English pieces; one weighty armoire had to be craned in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
A swarm of tourists craned their necks to see the instalment of the cross's upper arm, visible amid the scaffolding and workers who put finishing touches from their harnesses.
From Barron's ● Feb. 20, 2026
Tugging at kite strings in the field are a group of children, their necks craned towards the skies.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2025
During the final stretch of the Chicago race, they were leaning over barricades, necks craned, looking for their husbands flying by at a pace close to 4 minutes and 53 seconds per mile.
From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2024
I twisted and craned to catch an Excellent, Very Good, Good, or Satisfactory on someone’s paper.
From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Here in 2026, office workers often suffer from texting thumb after scrolling through endless feeds and tech neck after craning down to look at mobile devices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
My head pain was quelled thanks to the drugs, but now my neck and back began to flare up, the previous day’s slouching and craning setting in.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2024
You should position yourself so that you’re not craning your neck upward or to the side.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
Only by craning your neck can you see that the canopy is still threadbare.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2023
It was as if she despised the noisy crowds of common folk craning past the Praetorian Guards’ leather-clad shoulders for a glimpse of her.
From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
