Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state of being crank, in any of its senses.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) Liability to be overset; -- said of a ship or other vessel.
- noun Sprightliness; vigor; health.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical Liability to be
overset ; said of aship or other vessel. - noun
sprightliness ;health ;vigour
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Before leaving London Cook, who had heard it was said that he was not satisfied with the vessels chosen for the voyage, wrote to Mr. Stephens on the subject, giving his opinion that the crankness of the Resolution “was owing to the additional works that have been built upon her in order to make large accommodation for the several gentlemen passengers intended to embark in her.”
The Life of Captain James Cook Kitson, Arthur 1907
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Loading must be done with unusual care, as the slightest crankness of such frail craft in such wild waters is likely to prove fatal.
All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways William Charles Henry Wood 1905
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Tallyho had grasped more firmly his oaken sprig, with the intention of trying the crankness of the observer's pericranium, when Dashall perceived that the obnoxious remark was directed to a simple looking old man, dejectedly leading a horse
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