crater

[ krey-ter ]
/ ˈkreɪ tər /

noun

verb (used with object)

to make craters in: Bombs had cratered the landscape.
Slang.
  1. to cancel, abandon, or cast aside: to crater the new project.
  2. to destroy or ruin: One more disappointment won't crater me.

verb (used without object)

to form a crater or craters: The surface of the concrete cratered and cracked under the repeated impacts.

Origin of crater

1605–15; < Latin < Greek krātḗr mixing bowl, literally, mixer, equivalent to krā- (base of kerannýnai to mix) + -tēr agentive suffix; cf. crasis

OTHER WORDS FROM crater

cra·ter·al, cra·ter·ous, adjective cra·ter·like, adjective in·ter·cra·ter, adjective

Definition for crater (2 of 3)

Crater
[ krey-ter ]
/ ˈkreɪ tər /

noun

Joseph Force [fawrs, fohrs] /fɔrs, foʊrs/,1889–?, a judge of the New York State Supreme Court: his mysterious disappearance on August 6, 1930, has never been solved.

Definition for crater (3 of 3)

krater

or cra·ter

[ krey-ter ]
/ ˈkreɪ tər /

noun Greek and Roman Antiquity.

a mixing bowl characterized by a wide mouth and body with two handles projecting vertically from the juncture of the neck and body, used to mix wine and water.
Compare kelebe.

Origin of krater

1855–60; < Greek krātḗr; see crater

Example sentences from the Web for crater

British Dictionary definitions for crater (1 of 2)

crater
/ (ˈkreɪtə) /

noun

verb

to make or form craters in (a surface, such as the ground)
slang to fail; collapse; crash

Derived forms of crater

cratered, adjective craterless, adjective crater-like, adjective

Word Origin for crater

C17: from Latin: mixing bowl, crater, from Greek kratēr, from kerannunai to mix

British Dictionary definitions for crater (2 of 2)

Crater
/ (ˈkreɪtə) /

noun Latin genitive Crateris (ˈkreɪtərɪs)

a small faint constellation in the S hemisphere lying between Virgo and Hydra

Medical definitions for crater

crater
[ krātər ]

n.

A circular depression or pit in the surface of a tissue or body part.

Scientific definitions for crater

crater
[ krātər ]

A bowl-shaped depression at the top of a volcano or at the mouth of a geyser. Volcanic craters can form because of magma explosions in which a large amount of lava is thrown out from a volcano, leaving a hole, or because the roof of rock over an underground magma pool collapses after the magma has flowed away.
A shallow, bowl-shaped depression in a surface, formed by an explosion or by the impact of a body, such as a meteorite.