crater

English

Etymology 1

First coined 1613, from Latin crātēr (“basin”), from Ancient Greek κρᾱτήρ (krātḗr, “mixing-bowl, wassail-bowl”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkɹeɪ.tə(ɹ)/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈkɹeɪ.tɚ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪtə(r)

Noun

crater (plural craters)

  1. (astronomy) A hemispherical pit created by the impact of a meteorite or other object.
  2. (geology) The basin-like opening or mouth of a volcano, through which the chief eruption comes; similarly, the mouth of a geyser, about which a cone of silica is often built up.
  3. (informal) The pit left by the explosion of a mine or bomb.
  4. (informal) Any large, roughly circular depression or hole.
  5. (historical) an ancient Greek vessel for mixing water and wine; a krater.
    • 1941, Louis MacNeice, The March of the 10,000:
      The people of those parts lived in underground houses - more of dug-outs - along with their goats and sheep and they had great craters full of wine, barley-wine, that they drank through reeds.
Synonyms

Hyponyms

See also

Translations

References

Verb

crater (third-person singular simple present craters, present participle cratering, simple past and past participle cratered)

  1. To form craters in a surface (of a planet or moon)
  2. To collapse catastrophically; to become devastated or completely destroyed.
    Synonyms: implode, hollow out
    The economy is about to crater. -- Attributed by David Letterman to Sen. John McCain. NYTimes blog
  3. (snowboarding) To crash or fall.
    He cratered into that snow bank about five seconds after his first lesson.

Etymology 2

Possibly a diminutive of cratur (dialect form of creature).

Pronunciation

  • (Ireland) IPA(key): /ˈkɹeː.təɹ/

Noun

crater (plural craters)

  1. (Ireland, informal, Britain, dialect) A term of endearment, a dote, a wretched thing.
    1843 - I then had the two best tarriers beneath the canopy; this poor crater is their daughter," and he patted the dog's head affectionately.
    William Hamilton Maxwell, Wild Sports of the West: With Legendary Tales, and Local Sketches , Publisher R. Bentley, page 77,
    1859 - She is a charming crater; I would venture to say that, if I was not her father.
    The British Drama: A Collection of the Most Esteemed Tragedies, Comedies ...
    1872 Thomas Hardy "Under the Greenwood Tree"
    "Then why not stop for fellow-craters -- going to thy own father's house too, as we be, and knowen us so well?"
Usage notes

This term is still commonly used in speech but rarely appears in modern writing.

Anagrams

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κρᾱτήρ (krātḗr, “mixingbowl, wassail-bowl”), from κεράννυμι (keránnumi, “to mix, to mingle, to blend”)

Pronunciation

Noun

crātēr m (genitive crātēris); third declension

  1. A basin or bowl for water or for mixing.
  2. The opening of a volcano.

Inflection

Third declension.
Case Singular Plural
nominative crātēr crātērēs
genitive crātēris crātērum
dative crātērī crātēribus
accusative crātērem crātērēs
ablative crātēre crātēribus
vocative crātēr crātērēs
 Third declension, Greek type.
Case Singular Plural
nominative crātēr crātēres
genitive crātēros crātērum
dative crātērī crātēribus
accusative crātēra crātēras
ablative crātēre crātēribus
vocative crātēr crātēres

Descendants

References

  • crater in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • crater in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • crater in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • crater in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
  • crater in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
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