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Glite Dictionary
🧗 A tough climber 📞 A prank caller 🔧 A handle turner
cranker

cranker

9.9
A person who turns a hand crank to start a machine
  • noun
  • /ˈkreɪŋkər/
translation icon : manivela
  • In early factories, a cranker was needed to keep the machines running smoothly.

Examples

  • The old car requires a cranker to start it.

  • He worked as a cranker on the farm, starting engines every morning.

  • The old car would not start until the cranker gave the handle a strong turn.

  • My grandfather was a skilled cranker in his youth.

  • The cranker quickly learned how to start the vintage car by turning the crank handle.

  • As a skilled cranker, she easily operated the old generator by hand whenever the power went out.

  • He watched as the cranker turned the hand crank to fire up the ancient well pump.

Surface Forms

cranker singular
crankers plural

Morphology

cranker = crank (transparent) = crank + er

This is a straightforward agent noun meaning 'a person who cranks.'

Etymology

Cranker comes directly from the noun crank, the bent handle you 'turn' to start old machines or engines. That is why a cranker can mean a person who turns a hand crank to start or operate a machine.