different between cranny vs cleavage

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?æni/
• Rhymes: -æni

Etymology 1

From Middle English crany, crani (“cranny”), apparently a diminutive of *cran (+ -y), from Old French cran, cren (“notch, fissure”), a derivative of crener (“to notch, split”), from Medieval Latin cren? (“split”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *crin? (“split, break”, verb), of obscure origin.

Despite a spurious use in Pliny, connection to Latin cr?na 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”).

Noun

cranny (plural crannies)

1. A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
   • c. 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     He peeped into every cranny.
2. A tool for forming the necks of bottles, etc.

Related terms

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

Translations

Verb

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.

Etymology 2

Perhaps for cranky.

Adjective

cranny (comparative more cranny, superlative most cranny)

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

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

English

Etymology

cleave +? -age

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kli?v?d?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kliv?d?/
• Hyphenation: cleav?age

Noun

cleavage (countable and uncountable, plural cleavages)

1. The act of cleaving or the state of being cleft. [from 19th c.]
2. The hollow or separation between a woman's breasts, especially as revealed by a low neckline. [from 20th c.]
3. (by extension) Any similar separation between two body parts, such as the buttocks or toes.
4. (biology) The repeated division of a cell into daughter cells after mitosis. [from 19th c.]
5. (chemistry) The splitting of a large molecule into smaller ones.
6. (mineralogy) The tendency of a crystal to split along specific planes. [from 19th c.]
7. (politics) The division of voters into voting blocs.

Synonyms

• (separation between breasts): intermammary sulcus

Derived terms

• cleavage furrow
• cleavaged

Related terms

• cleave
• cleft

Translations

See also

• décolletage
• spathic