crake Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any of several short-billed Old World rails

WordNet

Crake transitive verb & intransitive verb
Etymology
See Crack.
Definitions
  1. To cry out harshly and loudly, like the bird called crake.
  2. To boast; to speak loudly and boastfully. Obs.
    Each man may crake of that which was his own. Mir. for Mag.
Crake noun
Definitions
  1. A boast. See Crack, n. Obs. Spenser.
Crake noun
Etymology
Cf. Icel. krka crow, krkr raven, Sw. krka, Dan. krage; perh. of imitative origin. Cf. Crow.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Any species or rail of the genera Crex and Porzana; -- so called from its singular cry. See Corncrake.

Webster 1913