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cranny - 7 dictionary results

cran⋅ny

[kran-ee]
–noun, plural -nies.
1. a small, narrow opening in a wall, rock, etc.; chink; crevice; fissure: They searched every nook and cranny for the missing ring.
2. a small out-of-the-way place or obscure corner; nook.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME crany, perh. < MF crené, ptp. of crener to notch, groove; see crenel
cran·ny   (krān'ē)   
n.   pl. cran·nies
A small opening, as in a wall or rock face; a crevice.

[Middle English crani, perhaps alteration of Old French cren, cran, notch, from *crener, to notch.]
cran'nied adj.

Cranny

Cran"ny\ (kr[a^]n"n[y^]), n.; pl. Crannies (-n[i^]z). [F. cran notch, prob. from L. crena (a doubful word).]

1. A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.

In a firm building, the cavities ought not to be filled with rubbish, but with brick or stone fitted to the crannies. --Dryden.

He peeped into every cranny. --Arbuthnot.

2. (Glass Making) A tool for forming the necks of bottles, etc.

Cranny

Cran"ny\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Crannied (-n?d); p. pr. & vb. n. Crannying.]

1. To crack into, or become full of, crannies. [R.]

The ground did cranny everywhere. --Golding.

2. To haunt, or enter by, crannies.

All tenantless, save to the crannying wind. --Byron.

Cranny

Cran"ny\, a. [Perh. for cranky. See Crank, a. ] Quick; giddy; thoughtless. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.

cranny 
c.1440, supposedly from M.Fr. cran "notch, fissure," from crener "to notch, split," from M.L. crenare, prob. from L. cernere "to separate, sift" (see crisis). But OED casts doubt on this derivation.

cranny

see nook and cranny.

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