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cran

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cran¹

Where it comes from

Evidently from, or at least influenced by Goidelic; compare Scottish Gaelic crann (“lot, measure of herring, tree, etc.”).

noun crans · cran · crane

  1. obsolete A measure of herrings, either imprecise or sometimes legally specified. It has oftentimes been about 37½ imperial gallons, or ~750 herrings on average (up to 1200 or even ~2500). Very flattering indeed has been the success of the fishermen; and many boats have come in loaded, averaging thirty or forty crans each (every cran estimated at 1,000 herrings), and disposed of their cargoes at nine shillings per cran; but the price has been since raised to fifteen shillings.
  2. broadly, obsolete, rare A barrel made to hold such a measure.

cran²

noun crans

  1. An embellishment played on a chanter of a bagpipe or a tin whistle, consisting of a series of grace notes produced by rapid sequential lifting of the fingers.

cran³

noun crans

  1. alternative Alternative form of qiran

Cran⁴

Where it comes from

Shortened form of Cranfield taking all the letters of the first syllable and the first consonant of the second syllable.

proper noun

  1. after a qualification Cranfield University, used especially following post-nominal letters indicating status as a graduate.
  2. A river, Rivière du Cran (Cran River), in Le Domaine-du-Roy Regional County Municipality, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, Quebec, Canada, a tributary of the Ashuapmushuan River.

CRAN⁵

proper noun

  1. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of Comprehensive R Archive Network

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MLA

"cran." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cran. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cran. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cran

Chicago

"cran." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cran.

BibTeX
@misc{cran_2026,
  title = {cran},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cran},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}