crake

American  

[kreyk] / kreɪk /

noun

1. any of several short-billed rails, especially the corn crake.

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crake British  

/ kreɪk /

noun

1. zoology any of several rails that occur in the Old World, such as the corncrake and the spotted crake

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Etymology

Origin of crake

1275–1325; Middle English < Old Norse krākr, krāki crow ¹

Example Sentences

All that is winged, even the grating corn crake, is painted with a mystical birder’s unworldly rose-colored pianistic glasses.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 27, 2021

For each lucky birder who saw the Cedar Beach corn crake, there are thousands of others who wish they had, myself included.

From New York Times • Jan. 23, 2018

On another hunt, the party shot a brace of crake, five pheasant and a pigeon. 

From Forbes • Jan. 11, 2015

He says that birds such as spotted crake, which usually turn up from Africa and are attracted to large pools of water, did not show up last year.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2012

When the crake remains a long time in one place, uttering the call continuously, the illusion disappears, and there is no more difficulty in approximately fixing its position than that of any other bird.

From Wild Life in a Southern County by Jefferies, Richard