Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
cater. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cater, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cater in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
cater you have here. The definition of the word
cater will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
cater, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English catour (“acater, provisioner”), aphetic form of acatour (“acater”), from Old French acater (“to buy, to purchase”). Equivalent to cate + -er.
Pronunciation
Verb
cater (third-person singular simple present caters, present participle catering, simple past and past participle catered)
- To provide, particularly:
a. 1635, Thomas Randolph, Poems, page 4:
- (transitive, intransitive) To provide with food, especially for a special occasion as a professional service.
His company catered our wedding.
- (intransitive, figurative, with 'to') To provide anything required or desired, often (derogatory) to pander.
I always wanted someone to cater to my every whim.
Derived terms
Translations
to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service
provide anything required or desired
— see also pander
Noun
cater (plural caters)
- (obsolete) Synonym of acater: an officer who purchased cates (food supplies) for the steward of a large household or estate.
c. 1400, Gamelyn, ll. 321 ff.:
1512, Account Book of the Hospital of St. John, Canterbury (1510–1556):
- (obsolete) Synonym of caterer: any provider of food.
- (figurative, obsolete) Synonym of purveyor: any provider of anything.
1590, Robert Greene, Greenes Mourning Garment, page 28:
Alternative forms
Etymology 2
Probably ultimately from French quatre (“four”), possibly via cater (“change-ringing”), although Liberman argues for a derivation from a North Germanic prefix meaning "crooked, angled, clumsy" from which he also derives cater-cousin and, via Norse, Old Irish cittach (“left-handed, awkward”). He finds this more likely than extension of the dice and change-ringing term cater as an adverb, given the likely cognates in other Germanic languages. Caterpillar and caterwaul are unrelated, being derived from cognates to cat, but may have influenced the pronunciation of Liberman's proposed earlier *cate- or undergone similar sound changes.
Verb
cater (third-person singular simple present caters, present participle catering, simple past and past participle catered)
- (UK dialect) To place, set, move, or cut diagonally or rhomboidally.
1577, Barnaby Googe transl. Conrad Heresbach, Foure Bookes of Husbandry, Bk. II, fol. 69v:
1873, Silverland, page 129:‘Cater’ across the rails ever so cleverly, you cannot escape jolt and jar.
Adverb
cater (not comparable)
- (UK dialect, US) Diagonally.
1881, Sebastian Evans, Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs, s.v. "Cater and Cater-cornered":Cater and Cater-cornered, diagonal; diagonally. To ‘cut cater’ in the case of velvet, cloth, etc., is... ‘cut on the cross’. Cater-snozzle, to make an angle; to ‘mitre’.
Derived terms
Etymology 3
From French quatre (“four”). Doublet of cuatro.
Pronunciation
Noun
cater (plural caters)
- (rare, obsolete) Four.
1553, Thomas Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique..., page 86:
- (card games, dice games, obsolete) The four of cards or dice.
1519, William Horman, Vulgaria, fol. 280v:Cater is a very good caste.
- (music) A method of ringing nine bells in four pairs with a ninth tenor bell.
1872, Henry Thomas Ellacombe, The Bells of Church, page 29:The very terms of the art are enough to frighten an amateur. Hunting, dodging... caters, cinques, etc.
1878, George Grove, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, s.v. "Cater":Cater... The name given by change ringers to changes of nine bells. The word should probably be written quaters, as it is meant to denote the fact that four couples of bells change their places in the order of ringing.
Alternative forms
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
References
- “† ’cater, n¹.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1889.
- “cater, n²., adv., v¹., and v².”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1889.
- “cater”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “cater”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- "Kitty-corner" in Anatoly Liberman's Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008, →ISBN, pp. 133–135.
Anagrams
- Carte, Trace, acter, caret, carte, crate, creat, react, recta, reäct, trace
Ladin
Etymology
From Latin quattuor.
Adjective
cater
- four
Noun
cater m (uncountable)
- four
Middle Dutch
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
cāter m
- tomcat
Inflection
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Descendants
Further reading