/ kreɪn; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
a tall machine with a long arm, used to lift and move building materials and other heavy objects
2.
a large bird with long legs and a long neck
—see also blue crane
■ verb
[ v , usually + adv. / prep. ] to lean or stretch over sth in order to see sth better; to stretch your neck :
[ v ]
People were craning out of the windows and waving.
[ vn ]
She craned her neck to get a better view of the stage.
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WORD ORIGIN
noun sense 1 and verb Middle English : figuratively from crane the bird (the same sense development occurred in the related German Kran and Dutch kraan , and in French grue ). The verb dates from the late 16th cent.
noun sense 2 Old English , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kraan and German Kran , from an Indo-European root shared by Latin grus and Greek geranos .