| 释义 |
▪ I. cranky, a.1|ˈkræŋkɪ|
[A comparatively modern formation, covering a group of senses that hang but loosely together, and have various associations with crank n.2 and n.3, crank a.2 and a.3.]
(The order here followed is merely provisional.)
1. Sickly, in weak health, infirm in body; = crank a.3 3. dial.
1787Grose Prov. Gloss., Cranky, ailing, sickly; from the dutch crank, sick. N[orth]. 1869Lonsdale Gloss., Cranky, ailing, sickly. [So in dial. Glossaries of Cumberland, Whitby, Holderness, Leicestersh., Berkshire; W. Somerset has crankety; in others prob. omitted as being a general word.] 1891Science (N.Y.) 21 Aug. 102/2 The vigorous sheep being constantly drafted away for sale..these ‘cranky’ sheep (as they came to be called) were left behind.
2. Naut. = crank a.2
1861Wynter Soc. Bees 358 ‘Beg pardon, sir, but the boat is very cranky..if you goes on so, she will be over.’ 1870Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 126 The craft is cranky.
3. Out of order, out of gear, working badly; shaky, crazy; = crank a.3 4.
1862Smiles Engineers III. 90 It was constantly getting out of order..at length it became so cranky that the horses were usually sent out after it to bring it along. 1863Mrs. Toogood Yorksh. Dial., ‘Don't sit on that chair, it is cranky.’ 1888Berkshire Gloss., Cranky..for machinery, out of gear; for a structure, in bad repair, likely to give way.
4. Of capricious or wayward temper, difficult to please; cross-tempered, awkward; ‘cross’.
1821Blackw. Mag. IX. 82 Cranky Newport, not annoyed with νοῦς. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop vii, That his friend appeared to be rather ‘cranky’ in point of temper. 1851D. Jerrold St. Giles xv. 151 He got plaguy cranky of late; wouldn't come down with the money. 1876C. M. Yonge Womankind xxiii. 199 We view our maids as cranky self-willed machines for getting our work done. [In dial. Glossaries of Cumberland, Whitby, Holderness, Leicester.]
5. Mentally out of gear; crotchety, ‘queer’; subject to whims or ‘cranks’; eccentric or peculiar in notions or behaviour. Cf. crank n.2 4, 5.
1850Dickens Poor Man's Tale of Patent (Househ. Wds. 19 Oct. 70), I said, ‘William Butcher..You are sometimes cranky’. 1863C. Reade Hard Cash II. 113 He [a mad-doctor] had..almost invariably found the patient had been cranky for years. 1876Whitby Gloss. s.v., Cranky ways, crotchets. 1879G. Macdonald P. Faber II. iv. 66 A cranky, visionary, talkative man. 1884Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. July 11, Butler makes a long fight over his cranky notions.
6. Full of twists or windings, crooked; full of corners or crannies. Cf. crank n.2 1, 2.
1836W. S. Landor Wks. 1876 VIII. 94 No curling dell, no cranky nook. 1876Whitby Gloss. s.v., Cranky roads, crooked roads. 1887Jessopp Arcady iii. 71 Old closets, dim passages, and cranky holes and corners.
7. (See quot.) dial. Cf. crank v.1 2.
1788Marshall Yorksh. Gloss., Cranky, checked [i.e. striped] linen; cranky apron, a checked-linen apron. 1876Whitby Gloss., Cranky adj., of stout old-fashioned linen for housewives' aprons, with a blue stripe on a white ground.
▪ II. ˈcranky, a.2 dial.
[f. crank a.1 + -y]
Brisk, merry, lively, disposed to exult; = crank a.1
1811Willan W. Riding Gloss. (E.D.S.), Crank, Cranky, jocose, sprightly, exulting. 1837–40Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 407 Most of the first chop men cut and run, as they always do in such like cases, considerable cranky. 1886S.W. Linc. Gloss., Cranky, merry, sportive. How cranky the boy is! he's full of quirks and pranks. [In dial. Glossaries of Sussex and Hampshire.] |