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cranny

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L318819 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈkɹæni/

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Hindustani किरानी (kirānī) / کِرانِی (kirānī).

  1. A clerk writing English.
  2. A member of the East Indians, or mixed-race people, from among whom English copyists were chiefly recruited.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English crany, crani (“cranny”), apparently a diminutive of *cran (+ -y), from Old French cran, cren (“notch, fissure”), a derivative of crener (“to notch, split”), from Medieval Latin crenō (“split”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *crinō (“split, break”, verb), of obscure origin. Despite a spurious use in Pliny, connection to Latin crēna is doubtful. Instead, probably of Germanic or Celtic origin. Compare Old High German chrinna (“notch, groove, crevice”), Alemannic German Krinne (“small crack, channel, groove”), Low German karn (“notch, groove, crevice, cranny”), Old Irish ara-chrinin (“to perish, decay”).

  1. To break into, or become full of, crannies.

    The ground did cranie everie where and light did pierce to hell.

  2. To haunt or enter by crannies.

    All tenantless, save to the crannying wind.