1332 
cranioscopy 
craniOSCOpy (kra-ni-os'ko-pi), n. [= F. cranio- 
scopie = Pg. eranioscopia, < NL. eranioscopia, 
< Gr. upavioi', the skull, 4- amneiv, view.] The 
examination of the configuration of the skull ; 
phrenology. [Rare.] 
craniospinal (kra"ni-6-spi'nal), a. [< ML. cra- 
nium + L. spitia + -al] In anat., pertaining 
to the skull and the backbone : as, the cranio- 
spinal axis. Also craniovertebral. 
Craniota (kra-ui-6'ta), n. pi. [NL., < cranium, 
skull: see cranium.']" A primary division of the 
Vertebrata, including those which possess a 
skull and brain, or the whole of the Vertcbrata 
excepting the Leptocardia or Acrania. Also 
Craniata. 
The Skulled Animals or Craniota (Man and all other 
Vertebrates). Haeckel, Evol. of Man (trans.), I. 416. 
craniotabes (kra"ni-o-ta'bez), n. [NL., < ML. 
cranium + L. tabes,' a wasting, decline.] In 
nathol., a condition of infants characterized by the form or meaning of a word, 
the thinnine and softening of the cranial bones Quips, and crank*, and w ^{Vj legr0| ^ 
3. [In this sense now associated with crank 3 , 
He [the hare] crankxaml crosses with a thousand doubles. 
See how this river comes me cranking in, 
And cuts me, from the best of all my land, 
A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out. 
SAo*.,lHen. IV., iii. 1. 
II trans. To mark crosswise on (bread and 
butter), to please a child. Sallitoell. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
crank 1 (krangk), . [< crank 1 , a., or crank 1 , v.] 
1. A bend; a turn; a twist; a winding; an in- 
volution. 
I [the bellyl send it [food] through the rivers of your blood, 
Even to the court, the heart, to the seat o' the brain, 
And through the cranks and offices of man. 
SAo*.,Cor.,i. 1. 
Meet you no ruin but the soldier in 
The cranks and turns of Thebes? 
Fletcher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2. 
2. A twist or turn of speech ; a conceit which 
consists in a grotesque or fantastic change of 
the thinning and softening of the cranial bones 
in spots. Some cases seem to be connected 
with rachitis and some with syphilis. 
craniotomy (kra-ni-ot'o-mi), n. [= F. cranio- 
tomie, < Gr. upaviav, the skull, + rofif/, a cutting, 
<rt/j.veiv, cut: see anatomy.] In obstel., an oper- 
ation in which the fetal head is opened when 
it presents an obstacle to delivery 
. 
n., 2.] An absurd or unreasonable action caused 
by a twist of judgment ; a caprice ; a whim ; a 
crotchet ; a vagary. 
Violent of temper ; subject to sudden cranks. Carlyle. 
Pains ; aches. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
^ . 
craniovertebral (kra"m-6-ver'te-bral), a. [< cran k'2 (krangk), n. [< ME. cranke ; perhaps < 
ML. cranium + L. vertebra, vertebra, + -al.] jyg *cranc, in comp. "c 
cranc-staif, an unauthen- 
ticated form in Somner, defined as "some kind 
o f weave rs instrument"; appar. < crank 1 , a., 
\) Sn ^ crooked, which is, however, not recorded 
NL. cranium (> It. cranio = F. crdne), ML. also j n M j; or ^g . see crank 1 , a.] 1. A bent or 
cranea, craneum (> Sp. crdneo = Pg. craneo); ver ti ca l arm attached to or projecting at an 
Same as craniospinal. 
cranium (kra'ni-um), n. ; pi. crania (-a). [Also 
formerly cranion (after Gr.) and crany ; ML. 
ft. 
IM 
Human Cranium or Calvarium, from above. 
Fr, Pa, Oc, frontal, parietal, and occipital 
bones ; Fr' , Cr, Sa. La, ti 
tal, and lambdoid sutures. 
ntal, coronal, sagit 
or, as now 
used, of any 
animal ; the 
bones of the 
head, collec- 
tively. It is 
possessed by all 
vertebrates ex- 
cept the Acra- 
nia or Lep- 
tocardia, and 
by vertebrates 
only. It is sup- 
posed by some 
anatomists to be 
a series of modi- 
fied vertebric 
consisting of 
three or four 
segments, each a 
modified verte- 
bra, and there- 
fore serially ho- 
mologous with 
the spinal col- 
umn ; by others 
, or for changing circular into recip- 
roca ting motion, as in a saw-mill, or recipro- 
cating into circular motion, as in a steam-en- 
gine. The single crank (1) can be used only on the end 
of an axis. The double crank (2) is employed when it is 
necessary that the 
axis should be ex- 
tended on both 
sides of the point 
at which the re- 
ciprocating motion 
is applied. An 
exemplification of 
this arrangement is 
afforded by the machinery of steam-vessels. The bell- 
crank (3), so called from its ordinary use in bell-hanging, 
performs a function totally different from that of the 
others, being >iscd merely to change the direction of a re- 
ciprocating motion, as from a horizontal to a vertical line. 
He ground the whole matter over and over and over 
again in his mind, with a hand never off the crank of the 
mill, by day nor by night. 
\V. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 275. 
2. An iron brace for various purposes, such 
as the braces which support the lanterns on 
Cranks. 
it Is supposed to the poop-quarters of vessels. 3. An iron at- 
be a distinct superaddition to the vertebra;, and there- to ,,i.ij * tliA font in pnrlino- to nrnvent slir>- 
fore only analogous to the spinal column. In a broad tacfiett to tne le ng, 10 pre 
sense the hyoid and branchial arches are a part of the era- pmg. [Scotch.] 4. An instrument ol prison 
nium. discipline, consisting of a small wheel, like the 
2. More exactly, the brain-box ; the bony case paddle-wheel of a steam-vessel, which, when 
of the encephalon, as distinguished from those the prisoner turns a handle outside, revolves 
bones of the skull which support the face and in a box partially filled with gravel. The labor 
jaws. See cranial. 3. In entom., the integu- o f turning it is more or less severe, according 
ment of an insect's head excluding the antennae, *~ *' * :i - -' ~ i -' *- - j'-'- 
eyes, and oral apparatus, and including the epi- 
cranium, gula, and occiput. 
crank 1 (krangk), a. [Not found in ME., except 
as in the prob. deriv. crank?, n., q. v. ; prob. 
ult. < AS. crincan, pret. crane (also cringan, 
pret. crang), fall, yield, succumb, appar. orig. 
bend, bow; cf. crank 1 , v., and see crincli, cringe. 
The words here given under the form crank, _. .... 
though here separated as to sense and histori- crank 3 (krangk), a. and n. [Not found in this 
cal relations into six groups, are more or less sense in ME. or AS., the alleged AS. "crane, 
involved in meaning and cross-associations, and weak, infirm,being unauthenticated, a,nc\* crang, 
appear to be ult. from the same verb-root. Oil as adj., dead, killed, an error; first in ear- 
account of the dialectal, colloquial, technical, ly mod. E., the noun (II., 1) being a cant 
or slan;* character of most of the senses, the word, indicating its origin from the D. : < MD. 
records in literature are scanty, only one group, kranck, weak, feeble, infirm, sick, also, of things, 
that of crank?, appearing in ME. or AS.] 1. weak, poor, insipid, D. krank, sick, ill, poor, = 
Crooked; bent; distorted: as, a crank hand; OFries. kronk, crone, North Fries, crone, sick, 
crafc-handed. 2. Hard; difficult: as, a crank = MLG. krank, weak, infirm, miserable, bad, 
word. [Scotch in both senses.] sick, LG. krank, sick, = OHG. *chranch (not 
crank 1 (krangk), v. [Not found in ME., but recorded, but cf. deriv. "chranchalon, krankoldn, 
appar. in part orig. a secondary form of "crink become weak), MHG.fcrac, weak, thin, slender, 
(m crinkle), ult. of AS. crincan, pret. crane, poor, bad, small, later esp. weak in body, feeble, 
to tne quan tity of gravel __ Disk crank, a disk car- 
rying a crank-pin, and substituted for a crank. 
crank 2 (krangk), v. t. [< cranTft, .] 1. To 
make of the shape of a crank ; bend into a crank 
shape. 2. To provide with a crank; attach a 
crank to. 
Connected with its axle, which was cranked for the pur- 
pose. Thurston, Steam-Engine, p. 166. 
3. To shackle; hamshackle (a horse). [Scotch.] 
fall, yield, orig. bend, bow; crank, crankle, be- 
ing related to *crink (crinch, cringe), crinkle, as 
cramp 1 , crumple, to crimp, crimple. In part the 
verb crank 1 depends on the noun. See crank 1 , 
a., and crank 1 , n.] I. intrans. To run in a wind- 
ing course ; bend; wind; turn. 
sick, G. krank, sick (whence, from G. or LG., 
Icel. krankr, also krangr = Norw. Sw.. Dan. 
krank, ill, sick) ; the adj. being also used as a 
noun, MD. kranck, etc., or with inflection, MD. 
krancke,T>. kranke = G. kranke, etc., a sick per- 
son, a patient ; whence the noun used in E., orig. 
crank 
with the epithet counterfeit, in ref. to persons 
who feigned sickness or frenzy (cf. D. krank- 
hoofdig, krankzinnig, crazy) in order to wring 
money from the compassion or fears of the 
beholder ; prob. from the pret. of an orig. Teut. 
verb preserved only in AS. crincan, pret. crane 
(also cringan, pret. crang), fall, yield, succumb, 
orig. bend, bow, to which also crank 1 , crank?, 
crank*, and crank& are referred: seecranfc 1 , etc., 
and crincli, cringe.] I.t Sick; ill; infirm; 
weak. [North. Eng.] 
She lodg'd him neere her bower, whence 
He loued not to gad, 
But waxed cranke for why ? no heart 
A sweeter layer had. 
Warner, Albion's Eng., vii. 36. 
II. n. If. A sick person: first used with the 
epithet counterfeit, designating a person who 
feigned sickness or frenzy in order to wring 
money from the compassion or fears of the be- 
holder. See etymology and quotations. 
Baser in habit, and more vile in condition, than the 
Whip-iack, is the Counterfet cranke; who in all kind of 
weather going halfe naked, staring wildly with his eyes, 
and appearing distracted by his lookes, complayning onely 
that he is troubled with the falling sicknes. 
Dekker, Belman of London (ed. 1608), Big. C 3. 
The Groundworke of Cony-catching ; the manner of their 
Pedlers French, and the meanes to vnderstand the same, 
with the cunning sleights of the Counterfeit Cranke. 
Greene, Plays (ed. Dyce), Int., p. ex. 
Thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 436. 
2. [In this sense derived from the preceding, 
but appar. also associated with crank 1 , n., 3, a 
whim, crotchet, caprice, and also, more or less, 
with crank 1 , a., and crank?, crank*, crank&, as 
if involving the notions of crooked, irregular, 
giddy, etc.] A person whose mind is ill-bal- 
anced or awry ; one who lacks mental poise ; one 
who is subject to crotchets, whims, caprices, or 
absurd or impracticable notions ; especially, a 
person of this sort who takes up some one im- 
practicable notion or project and urges it in sea- 
son and out of season ; a monomaniac. [Col- 
loq., U. 8.] 
But if he [Guiteau] should be a mere crank, and the act 
[the assassination of Oarfleld] a mere whim, and the defen- 
dant able to control his conduct, then you should find him 
guilty. 
Judge Wylie, Charge to the Jury in the Guiteau trial, 1882. 
The person who adopts " any presentiment, any extrava- 
gance as most in nature," is not commonly called a Tran- 
scendentalist, but is known colloquially as a crank. 
O. W. Holmes, Emerson, p. 150. 
crank 4 (krangk), a. and n. [Not in early use, 
but prob. another application of the orig. 
crank 1 , bent, ult. < AS. crincan, pret. crane, 
fall: see crank 1 and crank?. Cf. D. krengen = 
Sw. kranga = Dan. krcenge, heave down, heel, 
lurch, as a ship; of the same ult. origin.] I. a. 
1. Naut., liable to lurch or to be capsized, as a 
ship when she is too narrow or has not suffi- 
cient ballast to carry full sail: opposed to stiff. 
Also crank-sided. 
The ship, besides being ill built and very crank, was, 
to increase the inconveniency thereof, ill laden. 
Hubbard, quoted in Winthrop's Hist. New England, 
[II. 400, note. 
Towered the Great Harry, crank and tall, . . . 
With bows and stern raised high in air. 
Longfellow, Building of the Ship. 
Hence 2. In a shaky or crazy condition; 
loose; disjointed. 
For the machinery of laughter took some time to get in 
motion, and seemed crank and slack. Carlyle. 
In the case of the Austrian Empire, the crank machinery 
of the double government would augment all the difficul- 
ties and enfeeble every effort of the State. 
London Times, Nov. 11, 1876. 
II. n. A crank vessel; a vessel overmasted 
or badly ballasted. Halliu'ell. 
crank 5 (krangk), a. [Early mod. E. also cranck; 
a dial, word, not in early use ; prob. a particu- 
lar use of crank*, liable to be overset, shaky : 
see crank*, and cf . crank^.] Brisk ; lively ; jolly ; 
sprightly ; giddv ; hence, aggressively positive 
or assured ; self-assertive. [Now perhaps only 
in the last use.] 
He who was a little before liedred and caried lyke a dead 
karkas on fower mannes shoulders, was now cranke and 
lustie. J. IfdaU, On Mark ii. 
Thou crank and curious damsel ! 
Turbermlle, To an old Gentlewoman that Painted her Face. 
You knew I was not ready for you, and that made yon 
so crank : I am not such a coward as to strike again, I 
warrant you. Middlfton, Trick to Catch the Old One, i. 3. 
How came they to grow so extremely crank and confi- 
dent? Smith, Sermons, VI. i. 
crank 5 t (krangk), adv. [< cranlfi, a.] Briskly; 
cheerfully ; in a lively or sprightly manner. 
Like Chanticleare he crowed crank, 
And piped ful merlly. Drayton. 
