crank vs wingnut

crank

noun
  • An ill-tempered or nasty person. 

  • Synonym of methamphetamine. 

  • A twist or turn in speech; word play consisting in a change of the form or meaning of a word. 

  • An amateur in science or other technical subjects who persistently advocates flawed theories 

  • The penis. 

  • A twist or turn of the mind; caprice; whim; 

  • The act of converting power into motion, by turning a crankshaft. 

  • A bent piece of an axle or shaft, or an attached arm perpendicular, or nearly so, to the end of a shaft or wheel, used to impart a rotation to a wheel or other mechanical device; also used to change circular into reciprocating motion, or reciprocating into circular motion. 

  • a fit of temper or passion. 

adj
  • Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated. 

  • Liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast. 

  • Sick; unwell. 

  • Strange, weird, odd. 

verb
  • To turn. 

  • To cause to spin via other means, as though turned by a crank. 

  • To turn by means of a crank. 

  • To act in a cranky manner; to behave unreasonably and irritably, especially through complaining. 

  • To turn a crank. 

  • To be running at a high level of output or effort. 

wingnut

noun
  • Someone perceived as odd, eccentric, and/or extreme. 

  • Someone with crazy or extreme political views (especially extreme conservative views). 

  • A member of the air force (in a town that hosts a USAF installation). 

  • A mentally ill homeless person. 

  • A deciduous tree of the genus Pterocarya native to Asia. 

How often have the words crank and wingnut occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )