crank-sided adj Also crankside [By ext from the nautical sense “liable to list or capsize” (OED2 1628→); cf crank adj] chiefly Sth
Askew, lopsided; also fig.
1832 NC Free Press (Tarboro) 7 Aug [2]/4, How would it look in this republic, to see our churches, . . our public and private institutions of all kinds, a parcel of old crank-sided buildings, neither fit to live or die in? 1863 S. Lit. Messenger 37.594/2 VA, It is on account of the trees—the aspens close to the window, and the sturdy oaks that tower above the crank-sided carriagehouse just outside the yard. 1880 (1881) Harris Uncle Remus Songs 25 GA [Black], Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don’t tu’n ’im loose he butt ’er cranksided. 1888 Bellamy Old Man 68 nFL, Thar’ll come a day you’ll but yo’ head beginst a corner of his darned, crank-sided natur. 1891 PMLA 6.173 TN, Cranksided means twisted or careened to one side. 1893 Shands MS Speech, Crank-sided. . . Used by all classes to mean twisted or bent to one side. A man may be cranksided physically, mentally, or morally. The word is, of course, also used of inanimate objects. 1908 DN 3.302 eAL, wGA, Crank-sided. . . Having one side longer than the other, crooked, out of shape, askew. 1919 Harris–Leech From Sunup 21 GA, I have often thought what a rest it must have been to the old oak table and the whatnot and the chairs in the living room to be set out crank-sided in the sun on those days while she had the walls and floors furbished up. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. MM13, The table was nice and straight until he came along and knocked it _____) Infs MS69, NC15, 88, SC40, VA69, Crank-sided; (Qu. KK70, Something . . out of proper shape: “That house is all _____.”) Inf LA6, Crank-sided; (Qu. MM3, When someone does something the wrong way round . . “You’ve got the whole thing turned _____.”) Inf NC38, Crank-sided; (Qu. MM15, If a carpenter nails a board crossing another board at an angle, you might say: “He nailed the board on _____.”) Inf LA7, Crankside. 1979 Atlanta Jrl.–Constitution (GA) 6 May mag sec 61/2, It [=a wig] was hot even in winter, and a good hug could knock it crank-sided. 2004 Anderson Independent–Mail (SC) 5 Nov sec E 1/1, It has grown crank-sided because after it was planted, near it was planted another shrub which greedily overtook the pittosporum’s space.