cranny

• Rhymes: -æni

From Middle English crany, crani (“cranny”), apparently a diminutive of Middle English *cran (+ -y), from Old French cran, cren (“notch, fissure”), a derivative of Old French crener (“to notch, split”), from Medieval Latin crenō (“split”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *crinō (“split, break”, verb), of obscure origin. Despite a spurious use in Pliny, connection to Latin crēna is doubtful. Instead, probably of Germanic or Celtic origin. Compare Old High German chrinna (“notch, groove, crevice”), Alemannic German Krinne (“small crack, channel, groove”), Low German karn (“notch, groove, crevice, cranny”), Old Irish ara-chrinin (“to perish, decay”).

cranny (plural crannies)

1. A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
   • Arbuthnot

     He peeped into every cranny.

   • Dryden

     In a firm building, the cavities ought not to be filled with rubbish, but with brick or stone fitted to the crannies.

2. A tool for forming the necks of bottles, etc.

• any nook or cranny, every nook and cranny, nook and cranny, nook or cranny

cranny (third-person singular simple present crannies, present participle crannying, simple past and past participle crannied)

1. (intransitive) To break into, or become full of, crannies.
   • 1567, Arthur Golding: Ovid's Metamophoses; Bk. 2, line 333

     The ground did cranie everie where and light did pierce to hell.

2. (intransitive) To haunt or enter by crannies.
   • Byron

     All tenantless, save to the crannying wind.

Perhaps for cranky.

cranny (comparative more cranny, superlative most cranny)

1. (Britain, dialectal) quick; giddy; thoughtless

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)