Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Cranky
Crank′y
(-?)
, Adj.
1.
Full of spirit; crank.
2.
Addicted to crotchets and whims; unreasonable in opinions; crotchety.
[Colloq.]
3.
Unsteady; easy to upset; crank.
Definition 2024
cranky
cranky
English
Adjective
cranky (comparative crankier, superlative crankiest)
- (obsolete) Weak, unwell.
- (of a machine, etc.) Not in good working condition; shaky.
- 1914, Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, The River of Doubt,
- We had seven canoes, all of them dugouts. One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky. The other three were good.
- 1914, Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, The River of Doubt,
- Grouchy, irritable; easily upset.
- He got home from a long day at work tired and cranky.
- Not in perfect mental working order; eccentric, peculiar.
- 1934 December, Robert E. Howard, The Road to Bear Creek, in Action Stories,
- Uncle Esau is as cranky as ****, and a peculiar old duck, but I think he'll like a fine upstanding young man as big as you be.
- 1934 December, Robert E. Howard, The Road to Bear Creek, in Action Stories,
- (archaic) Full of spirit; spirited.
Translations
grouchy, irritable; easily upset