noun / verb
crane
A long-necked wading bird.
A crane wades through the marsh on its long legs.
Etymology
Old English cran named the bird. Its conspicuous long neck also supplied the familiar comparison behind the lifting machine’s name, while this use preserves the animal reference.
More examples
- We watch a pair of cranes feed near the pond.
- She cranes her neck to see over the crowd.
- I keep craning my neck to read the scoreboard.
Forms
crane · cranes · craned · craning