Crankly

[krangk] /kræŋk/

adjective, British Dialect.
1.
lively; high-spirited.
/kræŋk/
noun
1.
a device for communicating motion or for converting reciprocating motion into rotary motion or vice versa. It consists of an arm projecting from a shaft, often with a second member attached to it parallel to the shaft
2.
Also called crank handle, starting handle. a handle incorporating a crank, used to start an engine or motor
3.
(informal)

verb
4.
(transitive) to rotate (a shaft) by means of a crank
5.
(transitive) to start (an engine, motor, etc) by means of a crank handle
6.
(transitive) to bend, twist, or make into the shape of a crank
7.
(intransitive) (obsolete) to twist or wind
/kræŋk/
adjective
1.
(of a sailing vessel) easily keeled over by the wind; tender
n.

Old English *cranc, implied in crancstæf “a weaver’s instrument,” crencestre “female weaver, spinster,” from Proto-Germanic base *krank-, and related to crincan “to bend, yield” (see crinkle, cringe). English retains the literal sense of the ancient root, while German and Dutch krank “sick,” formerly “weak, small,” is a figurative use.

The sense of “an eccentric person,” especially one who is irrationally fixated, is first recorded 1833, said to be from the crank of a barrel organ, which makes it play the same tune over and over; but more likely a back-formation from cranky (q.v.). Meaning “methamphetamine” attested by 1989.
v.

1590s, “to zig-zag,” from crank (n.). Meaning “to turn a crank” is first attested 1908, with reference to automobile engines. Related: Cranked; cranking.

modifier

noun

[perhaps fr the crank of a barrel organ, by which one can play the same tune over and over again; applied by Donn Piatt to the publisher Horace Greeley]