crank the handle

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

crank the handle (third-person singular simple present cranks the handle, present participle cranking the handle, simple past and past participle cranked the handle)

1. (business, idiomatic) To perform a process; to do some work.
   • 2006, Rebecca Jordan, Kirsty Weir, In Good Company: The essential business start-up guide for women, A & C Black, page 229:

     There are various ways you can do this, including creating capacity by building a strong team, or by setting the sales stream up in such a way that anyone can crank the handle and keep the products going out and the customer demand coming in.

   • 2008, Brad Thor, The Last Patriot, Atria Books:

     “What do you mean?” said Ozbek. “All he has to do is slide some paper in there, ink the quill and crank the handle”

   • 2009, Nick Gifford, Information Security: Managing the Legal Risks, Australia: CCH:

     The suspension of one's critical faculty is not possible in a risk management exercsie. It is not simply a “crank the handle” process: intelligent analysis needs to be applied at all times throughout the activity, including critical review of the appropriateness of any methodology for an organisation's specific circumstances.

   • 2010, Robert Mnookin, Bargaining with the Devil: When the Negotiate, When to Fight, Simon & Schuster, pages 32–33:

     These five questions provide a framework for analyzing the benefits and costs, opportunities and risks. It won't provide a bright-line test or a crank-the-handle algorithm. But you shouldn't be looking for that here anyway.