cran
cran noun: 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). Also the alternative form of qiran.
Noun (1)
cran (plural crans or cran)
- 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.1800 Dec, Sir Richard Phillips, The Monthly magazine, volume 10, number 66, page 486
- His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish, / Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish.1938, Louis MacNeice, Bagpipe Music
- A barrel made to hold such a measure.
Noun (2)
cran (plural crans)
- 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.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Cran
Cran
- Cranfield University, used especially following post-nominal letters indicating status as a graduate.
- 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.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: CRAN
CRAN
- Acronym of Comprehensive R Archive Network.
Also used as
cran is also the alternative form of qiran.
Forms of cran
| plural | crans |
|---|---|
| plural | cran |
| alternative form | crane |
Origin of cran
Evidently from, or at least influenced by Goidelic; compare Scottish Gaelic crann (“lot, measure of herring, tree, etc.”).
Shortened form of Cranfield taking all the letters of the first syllable and the first consonant of the second syllable.
Questions about cran
- What does cran mean?
- Cran means 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).
- What part of speech is cran?
- Cran can be a noun or a proper noun.
- What is the plural of cran?
- The plural of cran is crans.
Words near cran in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cran (page history and authors); Cran (page history and authors); CRAN (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cran.wav.
Cite this entry: “cran.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cran. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.