crater
UK /ˈkɹeɪ.tə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈkɹeɪ.tɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms craters cratering cratered
- noun (astronomy) A hemispherical pit created by the impact of a meteorite or other object.
- noun (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.
- noun The pit left by the explosion of a mine or bomb.
- noun (informal, by extension) Any large, roughly circular depression or hole.
- verb To form craters in a surface.
- verb (figurative) To collapse catastrophically; to become devastated or completely destroyed.
- verb (snowboarding) To crash or fall. “He cratered into that snow bank about five seconds after his first lesson.”
- verb (video games) To die from fall damage.
- noun A worker who packs things in crates.
- proper noun (astronomy) A dim spring constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble a cup. It lies between the constellations Virgo and Hydra.
Synonyms
Etymology
First coined 1613, from Latin crātēr (“basin”), from Ancient Greek κρᾱτήρ (krātḗr, “mixing-bowl, wassail-bowl”).
crate + -er
From Latin crater (“basin; cup”), from Ancient Greek κρατήρ (kratḗr, “mixing bowl, wassail-bowl”), from κράμα (kráma, “mixture”), from κεράννυμι (keránnumi, “to mix, to mingle”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The basinlike opening or mouth of a volcano, through which the chief eruption comes; similarly, the mouth of a gevser, about which a cone of silica is often built up.
- noun The pit left by the explosion of a mine.
Etymology [L. crater, cratera, a mixing vessel, the mouth of a volcano, Gr. ir to cook, Crail, in Holy Grail.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “crater”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details