turn the crankshaft of (an internal combustion engine) in order to start the engine

the starter motor struggled to crank the engine

move the pitch lever into the normal range and crank up the engine

give a bend to (a shaft, bar, etc.)

I've cranked the shaft of the gear lever to get it further away from the dashboard

inject a narcotic drug

he's been cranking up on smack

a part of an axle or shaft bent out at right angles, for converting reciprocal to circular motion and vice versa

a long con rod which acts as a longer lever on the crank

the drug methamphetamine

an eccentric person, especially one who is obsessed by a particular subject

when he first started to air his views, they labelled him a crank

I am used to getting crank calls from conspiracy theorists

a fanciful turn of speech