crater

See also: cratur, craytur, craythur, Crater, cráter, and cràter

English

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹeɪ.tə(ɹ)/
• 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. [from 1831]

   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. [from 1610s]
3. (informal) The pit left by the explosion of a mine or bomb. [from 1839]
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

• bomb crater
• caldera
• explosion crater
• impact crater
• maar crater
• pit crater
• subsidence crater
• volcanic crater

 

Derived terms

• bomb crater
• crater face
• craterform
• crateriform
• craterization
• crater lake
• craterless
• craterlet
• craterlike
• craterous
• impact crater
• intercrater
• intracrater
• microcrater
• pseudocrater
• subsidence crater

 

See also

• machtesh
• caldera

Translations

astronomy: hemispherical pit

• Albanian: krater (sq) m
• Arabic: فَوَّهَة اَلْبُرْكَان f (fawwahat al-burkān)
• Armenian: խառնարան (hy) (xaṙnaran)
• Azerbaijani: krater
• Belarusian: кра́тэр m (kráter)
• Bulgarian: кра́тер (bg) m (kráter)
• Catalan: cràter (ca)
• Central Melanau: kawah
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 環形山／环形山 (zh) (huánxíngshān), 环形山 (zh) (huánxíngshān), (impact crater) 撞擊坑／撞击坑 (zhuàngjīkēng), 撞击坑 (zhuàngjī-kēng)

• Czech: kráter (cs) m
• Danish: krater (da) n
• Dutch: krater (nl) m
• Estonian: kraater
• Finnish: kraatteri (fi)
• French: cratère (fr) m
• Georgian: კრატერი (ḳraṭeri)
• German: Krater (de) m
• Greek: κρατήρας (el) m (kratíras)
• Hebrew: מַכְתֵּשׁ (he) m (makhtesh)
• Hungarian: kráter (hu)
• Indonesian: kawah (id)
• Italian: cratere (it) m
• Japanese: クレーター (kurētā)
• Kazakh: кратер (krater)
• Korean: 충돌구 (chungdolgu), 크레이터 (keureiteo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: кратер (krater)
• Latvian: krāteris m
• Lithuanian: krateris (lt) m
• Macedonian: кратер m (krater)
• Malay: kawah
• Manx: towl m
• Norwegian: krater n
• Persian: دهانه (fa) (dahāne), گودال (fa) (gowdāl)
• Polish: krater (pl) m
• Portuguese: cratera f
• Romanian: crater (ro) n
• Russian: кра́тер (ru) m (kráter)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кратер m

  Roman: krater (sh) m

• Slovak: kráter m
• Slovene: krater (sl) m
• Spanish: cráter (es) m
• Swedish: krater (sv) c, nedslagskrater c
• Tagalog: lungaw
• Thai: แอ่ง (th) (ɛ̀ng)
• Turkish: krater (tr)
• Ukrainian: кра́тер m (kráter)
• Uzbek: krater (uz)
• Vietnamese: hố va chạm

geology: opening of a volcano

• Arabic: فَوَّهَة اَلْبُرْكَان f (fawwahat al-burkān)
• Armenian: խառնարան (hy) (xaṙnaran)
• Bulgarian: кра́тер (bg) m (kráter)
• Catalan: cràter (ca)
• Central Melanau: kawah
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 火山口 (zh) (huǒshānkǒu), 噴火口／喷火口 (zh) (pēnhuǒkǒu), 喷火口 (zh) (pēnhuǒkǒu)

• Czech: kráter (cs) m
• Finnish: kraatteri (fi)
• French: cratère (fr) m
• German: Krater (de) m
• Greek: κρατήρας (el) m (kratíras)

  Ancient: κρατήρ m (kratḗr)

• Icelandic: gígur (is) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: cratere (it) m
• Japanese: クレーター (kurētā), 噴火口 (ふんかこう, funkakō), 火山口 (kazankuchi)
• Korean: 분화구 (ko) (bunhwagu), 화구 (hwagu), 크레이터 (keureiteo)
• Latin: crātēr m
• Malay: kawah
• Norwegian: krater n
• Polish: krater (pl) m
• Portuguese: cratera f
• Russian: кра́тер (ru) m (kráter), жерло́ (ru) n (žerló)
• Slovene: krater (sl) m
• Spanish: cráter (es) m
• Swedish: krater (sv) c, vulkankrater (sv) c
• Tagalog: bunganga ng bulkan, krater
• Thai: ปล่องภูเขาไฟ (bplɔ̀ng-puu-kǎo-fai)
• Ukrainian: кра́тер m (kráter)

pit left by an explosion

• Arabic: فَوَّهَة اَلْبُرْكَان f (fawwahat al-burkān)
• Bulgarian: я́ма (bg) f (jáma), кра́тер (bg) m (kráter)
• Catalan: cràter (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 彈坑／弹坑 (zh) (dànkēng), 弹坑 (zh) (dànkēng), 火山口 (zh) (huǒshānkǒu)

• Czech: kráter (cs) m
• French: cratère (fr) m
• German: Krater (de) m
• Greek: κρατήρας (el) m (kratíras)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: מַכְתֵּשׁ (he) m (makhtesh)
• Italian: cratere (it) m
• Japanese: クレーター (kurētā), 火山口 (kazankuchi)
• Norwegian: krater n
• Portuguese: cratera f
• Russian: кра́тер (ru) m (kráter), я́ма (ru) f (jáma), воро́нка (ru) f (vorónka)
• Slovene: krater (sl) m
• Swedish: krater (sv) c
• Ukrainian: кра́тер m (kráter)

References

• crater on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɹeː.təɹ/

Noun

crater (plural craters)

1. (Ireland, informal, UK, dialect) A term of endearment, a dote, a wretched thing.
   • 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.

   • 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

• Carter, arrect, carter, tracer

---

Latin

crātēr

Alternative forms

• crātēra

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/, [ˈkräːt̪eːr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkra.ter/, [ˈkräːt̪er]

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).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	crātēr	crātērēs crātēres
Genitive	crātēris crātēros	crātērum
Dative	crātērī	crātēribus
Accusative	crātērem crātēra	crātērēs crātēras
Ablative	crātēre	crātēribus
Vocative	crātēr	crātērēs crātēres

Descendants

• → English: crater
• → French: cratère
• → German: Krater
  • → Serbo-Croatian: кра́тер
• → Russian: кра́тер (kráter)
• → Spanish: 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