cranny
[kran-ee]
- a small, narrow opening in a wall, rock, etc.; chink; crevice; fissure: They searched every nook and cranny for the missing ring.
- a small out-of-the-way place or obscure corner; nook.
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Origin of cranny
1400–50; late Middle English crany, perhaps < Middle French crené, past participle of crener to notch, groove; see crenel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cranny
Contemporary Examples
Rawashda is holding his laptop as he points out every nook and cranny of his studio apartment.
Unlike the three-walled sets of Hollywood soundstages, this is made for every nook and cranny to be filmed.
Those scenes that are just in every nook and cranny at the Grand Ole Opry, that to me is the beauty of the show.
Mousack is piped into every nook and cranny of the damn ship: the elevators, the restaurants, the hallways.
Historical Examples
Her officers knew every nook and cranny of the coast along their beat.
Tales Of HearsayJoseph Conrad
Taking the lantern, I examined every nook and cranny of the cell for some other exit.
A Master of MysteriesL. T. Meade
Their old hut was like a rabbit-pen: there was a tow-head to every crack and cranny.
Oldtown Fireside StoriesHarriet Beecher Stowe
There was no cranny in the rocks too small for them to reconnoiter with caution.
Riders of the SilencesJohn Frederick
If only there were a cranny of light somewhere in the dead place!
cranny
- a narrow opening, as in a wall or rock face; chink; crevice (esp in the phrase every nook and cranny)
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French cran notch, fissure; compare crenel
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for cranny
n.
mid-15c., possibly from a diminutive of Middle French cran "notch, fissure" (14c.), from crener "to notch, split," from Medieval Latin crenare, possibly from Latin cernere "to separate, sift" (see crisis). But OED casts doubt on this derivation.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with cranny
cranny
see nook and cranny.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.