Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use crane in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Crane means any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight. Example: “There was an army of construction cranes working on building the skyscraper.”

Examples of crane by meaning

verbTo extend (one's neck).

  • Banbury cakes!" And mother would crane out and buy some, just to encourage the crew.1948 November and December, “By Broad Gauge to Cornwall”, in Railway Magazine, page 357

verbTo raise or lower with, or as if with, a crane.

  • Several overnight weekend possessions were required to crane in new bridges and various other parts of the buildings which were manufactured offsite.2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University challenge”, in RAIL, number 1001, pages 60-61

More sentences with crane

  • There was an army of construction cranes working on building the skyscraper.From the entry army
  • Your grandfather used to work with a crane hauling ore out of the gold mine's shafts.From the entry shaft
  • We're not making progress because we're two-blocked by the crane that has the road shut down.From the entry two-blocked
  • What's the maximum lift of this crane?From the entry lift
  • The order of Gruiformes includes cranes and their allies.From the entry ally
  • Our crane operations have been winded off for two weeks!From the entry wind off
  • First, a haul road had to be constructed, as well as pads used to support cranes.2025 July 23, Chris Howe, “Different designs and viaduct variations: Thame Valley Viaduct”, in RAIL, number 1040, page 48. From the entry haul road
  • The beams were transported to the site by road and lifted into place using two crawler cranes.2025 July 23, Chris Howe, “Different designs and viaduct variations: Thame Valley Viaduct”, in RAIL, number 1040, page 48. From the entry crawler crane
  • Crane said, as mangophiles demand varieties that cannot be found in grocery stores.2023 July 8, Patricia Mazzei, “The Mango Is King of the Miami Summer”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company…. From the entry mangophile
  • Like a skill crane with stuffed animals, Scottie squeezed tight, plucking the balls from the dirt.2015 June 18, Brad Meltzer, The President's Shadow: The Culper Ring Trilogy 3, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 29. From the entry skill crane
  • Or, gulping a big breath, That ficus tree had origami cranes hanging on it that awful Christmas.2012, Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Thorndike Press, page 65. From the entry Vietnam flashback
  • Another application of unstable grasping—albeit morally condemnable—is confidence games, e.g., skill crane machines.2008 February 11, Lionel Birglen, Thierry Laliberté, Clément M. Gosselin, Underactuated Robotic Hands, Springer Science & Business Media…. From the entry skill crane
  • Crane had talked down a would-be jumper standing on a support cable of the George Washington Bridge.2007, Lincoln Child, Deep Storm. From the entry talk down
  • Baby Siberian cranes learning to fly rose briefly against the sky.2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 870. From the entry Siberian crane
  • Because the seas were a bit rough that morning the crane was using the whip line.2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 45. From the entry whipline
  • They crane their neck to specularise the gory event with sadistic pleasure.2004, Chioma Carol Opara, Her Mother's Daughter: The African Writer as Woman, page 191. From the entry specularise
  • A simple dolly or crane move can be used for an effective reveal.2002, Blain Brown, Cinematography, →ISBN. From the entry reveal
  • They knew before they mispinned the stinger “of the dangerous condition of the crane"1996, North western reporter, page 179. From the entry mispin
  • Thinking all was clear, he started the crane toward the aft.1992 August, “Analysis”, in Selected Occupational Fatalities Related to Marine Cargo Handling as Found in Reports of OSHA…. From the entry legman
  • He was caught between the ladder and the crane, suffering multiple injuries.1992 August, “Analysis”, in Selected Occupational Fatalities Related to Marine Cargo Handling as Found in Reports of OSHA…. From the entry legman
  • Greater sandhill cranes take wing after a cornfest near the Rio Grande.1982, America's Wildlife Sampler, page 138. From the entry cornfest
  • Load pendulation has long been a problem for all floating cranes transferring containers .1977, Elizabeth Babcock, “Designing For the Desert,”, in Navy Civil Engineer, volume 18, page 22. From the entry pendulation
  • In heraldry, the cranes most often were presented as in vigilance.1977, Lucia Liu Severinghaus, A Design for an Education Center at the International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, Wisconsin. From the entry in vigilance
  • All fork lift trucks, platform trucks, walkalongs, cranes, and four-wheeled trucks should be checked for capacities.1961, Modern Castings, volume 40, page 44. From the entry walkalong
  • Overfierce crane and wheels skidding; contactor adjustment and additional resistance required.1946, Richard Alfred West, Electric Traction for Cranes, Sir Issac Newton & Sons Limited, page 70. From the entry overfierce
  • Locomotive water cranes are provided, and a water softening plant has been installed.1946 May and June, G. A. Sekon, “L.B.S.C.R. West Coast Section—3”, in Railway Magazine, page 149. From the entry water crane
  • Or, a crane in her vigilance, azure, standing in reeds proper.1943, National Americana Society, Americana Illustrated, page 133. From the entry in vigilance
  • Crane, rushing in where angels might have feared to tread, made the most of it.1936 February 16, D. G., “‘Ladies of Jury’ by WPA. The Group’s First Play Is Presented Ably. Alice Ellis, in the Role of a Stubborn School…. From the entry Betty Boopish
  • There is a variety of designs of stacker crane.2020 September 11, Joseph Talavage, Flexible Manufacturing Systems in Practice: Design: Analysis and Simulation, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 128. From the entry stacker crane
  • In the design from which they probably get their name, the vertical mast hangs from the carriage of an overhead crane.2020 September 11, Joseph Talavage, Flexible Manufacturing Systems in Practice: Design: Analysis and Simulation, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 128. From the entry stacker crane
  • Crane trotted along the labyrinthine corridors of deck 3, accompanied by a young marine with close-cropped blond hair.2011, Lincoln Child, Deep Storm, section 29, page 185. From the entry labyrinthine
  • For each crane, the nonprofits through an arrangement with a foundation are giving $2 toward reconstruction in Japan.2011 April 12, Chris English, PhillyBurbs.com, archived from the original on 23 Jul 2026. From the entry reconstruction
  • They crane their cigaretted hands to their mouths in unison and share the same eerie glow of suffocated defeat.2008, Ibi Kaslik, The Angel Riots, Penguin Canada, →ISBN, page 229. From the entry cigaretted
  • Petey loosened the underwrapping of thin paper carefully, and Sally craned her neck for a first glimpse of the flowers.2006, Maritta Wolff -, Night Shift, page 421. From the entry underwrapping
  • The crew stood on the deck of the supply boat, waiting in silence for the crane to lower the "Billy Pugh".2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 199. From the entry Billy Pugh
  • Creatures who navigate long-distance migrations — including the green turtles, wind birds, or great cranes — draw his most rapt commentaries.1996, James Richard Giles, Wanda H. Giles, American Novelists Since World War II: Fifth Series, page 139. From the entry rapt
  • The rabbits, still lining the roadside, but now pinked by dawn, craned their necks to follow her departure.1985, Carl Sagan, chapter 3, in Contact, Simon & Schuster, published 1997, page 57. From the entry pink
  • Bud Brown said something to the checker he was supervising; she had been craning around to see what was happening.1980, Stephen King, The Mist, Viking Press. From the entry checker

Meaning of crane

  1. noun Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.
  2. noun Ardea herodias, the great blue heron.
  3. noun A mechanical lifting machine or device, often used for lifting heavy loads for industrial or construction purposes.

Full definition of crane

Questions about crane in a sentence

How do you use crane in a sentence?
Crane is used as a noun and verb. For example: “There was an army of construction cranes working on building the skyscraper.”
What is a short sentence with crane?
“What's the maximum lift of this crane?”
What does crane mean?
Crane means any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crane (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use crane in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/crane. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.