Heading
1671. Head and Kirkman, The English Rogue, 'Canting Song.' Till cramprings quire, tip Cove his Hire, And Quire-ken do them catch.
1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Cramp-Words, subs. (old).—1.
Hard, unpronounceable vocables;
CRACKJAW WORDS (q.v.).
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Cramp words (s.): hard, difficult, unusual or uncommon words.
1779. Mrs. Cowley, Who's the Dupe? II., ii. I've been in the Dictionary this half-hour, and have picked up cramp words enough to puzzle and delight the old gentleman the remainder of his life.
1812. Coombe, Tour in S. of Picturesque, C. xxv. Who get cramp words, and cant the Muse In Magazines and in Reviews.
2 (thieves').—Sentence of death. [A figurative usage of sense 1.]
1748. Dyche, Dict., 5 ed. Cramp-words(s) . . . also in the canting dialect the sentence of death pass'd by the judge upon a criminal.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. He has just undergone the cramp-word.
Cranberry-Eye, subs. (American).
A blood-shot eye resulting from
alcoholism.
Crank, subs. (old).—1. Sometimes
cranke.—See quots. and
Counterfeit crank.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 33. These that do counterfet the cranke be yong knaues and yonge harlots, that deeply dissemble the falling sicknes. For the crank in their language is the fallinge evill.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Repr., 1874). Crancke, the falling sickenesse: and thereupon your Rogues that counterfeit the falling sickenes, are called counterfeit crancks.
2. (old).—Gin and water:—Grose [1785].
3. (American).—An eccentric, a crotcheteer. [From the colloquial cranky (q.v.) = full of crotchets; crazy.] Cf., Counterfeit Crank.
1886. Florida Times Union, 22 May. I know perfectly well that I shall probably be called an old fogy, if not a crank, for presuming to think that anything in the past can be better than in the present.
1887. New York Tribune, 4 Nov. A good deal of ridicule, mostly good-natured, is showered upon the base-ball crank, as everybody persists in calling the man or woman who manifests any deep interest in the great American game.
1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 Feb. The man was evidently a crank, and said that 4,000 dollars were due him by the Government.
Adj. (nautical).—Easily upset: e.g., 'the skiff is very crank.'
Crank-Cuffin, subs. (old).—One
of the canting-crew whose specialty
was to feign sickness. [From
crank (q.v., sense 1), the 'falling-sickness,'
+ cuffin (see
Cove), a man.]
1749. Bampfylde Moore-Carew, Oath of the Canting Crew. I, Crank-Cuffin, swear to be True to this fraternity.
Cranky, adj. (colloquial).—Crotchetty;
whimsical; ricketty; not
to be depended upon; crazy.
[Cf., quot., 1787.]
English Synonyms. Dicky; maggotty; dead-alive; yappy; touched; chumpish; comical; dotty; rocketty; queer; faddy; fadmongering; twisted; funny.
French Synonyms. Chevrotin (popular: applied to a bad or irritable temper); être comme un crin (popular); avoir sa chique (familiar: said of the temper).
1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Cranky, ailing, sickly; from the Dutch crank, sick.
