crane
/kɹeɪn/ noun B2- Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.
- A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.
- An iron arm with horizontal motion, attached to the side or back of a fireplace for supporting kettles etc. over the fire.
- A siphon, or bent pipe, for drawing liquors out of a cask.
- A forked post or projecting bracket to support spars, etc.; generally used in pairs.
Plural cranes
From the library
Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading.
## The Wolf and the Crane
A WOLF who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a Crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone.
When the Crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the Wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed: “Why, you have surely already had a sufficient recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the mouth and jaws of a wolf.”
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