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)/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹeɪ.tɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

crater (plural craters)

1. (astronomy) A hemispherical pit created by the impact of a meteorite or other object.

   Synonym: astrobleme

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. The pit left by the explosion of a mine or bomb.
   • 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:

     But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.

4. (informal, by extension) Any large, roughly circular depression or hole.
5. (historical) Alternative spelling of krater (“vessel for mixing water and wine”)
   • 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.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• machtesh
• caldera

Verb

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

1. To form craters in a surface.
2. (figurative) To collapse catastrophically; to become devastated or completely destroyed.

   Synonyms: implode, hollow out, tank

   • 2008 November 25, David Letterman, quoting John McCain, “‘The Economy Is Exploding’”, in NYTimes blog‎:

     Yup, John McCain said to me the economy “is about to crater.” You folks worried about the economy? Whoo! Not me.

   • 2020 August 6, Kate Conger, “Uber’s Revenue Craters, as Deliveries Surge in Pandemic”, in New York Times‎:

     Uber said on Thursday that its ride-hailing business had cratered in the second quarter as people traveled less in the pandemic.

   • 2022 October 4, Kate Conger, Lauren Hirsch, “Elon Musk Suggests Buying Twitter at His Original Price”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     The potential agreement comes after months of disputes that have created existential challenges for Twitter, cratering its share price, demoralizing its employees and spooking the advertisers it relies on for revenue.

3. (snowboarding) To crash or fall.

   He cratered into that snow bank about five seconds after his first lesson.

4. (video games) To die from fall damage.

Translations

References

• crater on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹeː.təɹ/

Noun

crater (plural craters)

1. (Scotland, Ireland) Alternative form of creature.
   • 1843, William Hamilton Maxwell, Wild Sports of the West: With Legendary Tales, and Local Sketches, R. Bentley, page 77:

     I then had the two best tarriers beneath the canopy; this poor crater is their daughter," and he patted the dog's head affectionately.

   • 1772, David Garrick, “The Irish Widow”, in The British Drama: A Collection of the Most Esteemed Tragedies, Comedies ..., published 1859, page 611:

     She is a charming crater; I would venture to say that, if I was not her father.

   • 1872, [Thomas Hardy], “I. Mellstock-Lane”, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, →OCLC, part I, page 6:

     ‘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

• Carter, arrect, carter, tracer

Latin

Alternative forms

• crātēra
• crēterra

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkraː.teːr/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkra.ter/,

Noun

crātēr m (genitive crātēris or crātēros); third declension

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

Declension

Third-declension noun (non-Greek-type or Greek-type, normal variant).

Descendants

• → English: crater
• → Finnish: krateeri
• → French: cratère
• → German: Krater
• → Hungarian: kráter
• → Serbo-Croatian: кра́тер
• → Russian: кра́тер (kráter)
• → Sicilian: cratiri
• → Spanish: cráter
• → Catalan: cràter
• → Galician: cráter

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French cratère.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkra.ter/

Noun

crater n (plural cratere)

1. crater

Declension

Further reading

• crater in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)