—n. - special skill or technique.

- occupation needing this.

- (pl. Craft) a boat or vessel. B aircraft or spacecraft.

- cunning or deceit. —v. Make in a skilful way. [old english]

n. Bird of the rail family, esp. The corncrake. [old norse, imitative of cry]

—n. - painful involuntary muscular contraction.

- (also cramp-iron) metal bar with bent ends for holding masonry etc. Together. —v. - affect with cramp.

- (often foll. By up) confine narrowly.

- restrict.

- fasten with a cramp. cramp a person's style prevent a person from acting freely or naturally. [low german or dutch]

—n. - machine with a long projecting arm for moving heavy objects.

- tall wading bird with long legs, neck, and bill. —v. (-ning) (also absol.) Stretch out (one's neck) in order to see something. [old english]

—n. - part of an axle or shaft bent at right angles for converting reciprocal into circular motion or vice versa.

- eccentric person. —v. Cause to move by means of a crank. crank up start (a car engine) with a crank. [old english]

n. CrEpe, usu. Of black silk, formerly used for mourning. [from *crEpe]

n.pl. Us (also crap game) gambling dice game. [origin uncertain]

barrier n. Barrier at the side or centre of a road etc.

- —v. - (cause to) make a loud smashing noise.

- throw, drive, move, or fall with a loud smash.

- (often foll. By into) collide or fall, or cause (a vehicle etc.) To collide or fall, violently; overturn at high speed.

- collapse financially.

- colloq. Gatecrash.

- computing (of a machine or system) fail suddenly.

- colloq. Pass (a red traffic-light etc.).

- (often foll. By out) slang sleep, esp. On a floor etc. —n. - loud and sudden smashing noise.

- violent collision or fall, esp. Of a vehicle.

- ruin, esp. Financial.

- computing sudden failure of a machine or system.

- (attrib.) Done rapidly or urgently (crash course in first aid). —adv. With a crash (go crash). [imitative]

- n. Coarse plain fabric of linen, cotton, etc. [russian]

adj. Gross; grossly stupid. crassly adv. Crassness n. [latin crassus thick]

—n. - slatted wooden case etc. For conveying esp. Fragile goods.

- slang old aircraft or other vehicle. —v. (-ting) pack in a crate. [perhaps from dutch]