Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - crank up

1. If you crank up a machine or a device, you make it function harder or at a greater level. (BRIT) Just crank up your hearing aid a peg or two. PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P 2. If you crank up a machine or device, you start it. (AM) ...May’s warm weather, which caused Americans to crank up their air conditioners. = start up PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P 3. If you crank up the volume of something, you turn it up until it is very loud. Someone cranked up the volume of the public address system... By about six, they’re cranking the music up loud again. = turn up PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), V n P adj, also V n P 4. To crank something up means to increase it or make it more intense. (mainly BRIT) The legal authorities cranked up the investigation. PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P