crate
Americannoun
-
a slatted wooden box or framework for packing, shopping, or storing fruit, furniture, glassware, crockery, etc.
-
any completely enclosed boxlike packing or shipping case.
-
Informal. something rickety and dilapidated, especially an automobile.
They're still driving around in the old crate they bought 20 years ago.
-
a quantity, especially of fruit, that is often packed in a crate approximately 2 × 1 × 1 foot (0.6 × 0.3 × 0.3 meters).
a crate of oranges.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a fairly large container, usually made of wooden slats or wickerwork, used for packing, storing, or transporting goods
-
slang an old car, aeroplane, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cratesimple
-
cratessimple
-
have cratedperfect
-
has cratedperfect
-
am cratingprogressive
-
are cratingprogressive
-
is cratingprogressive
-
have been cratingperfect progressive
-
has been cratingperfect progressive
Past
-
cratedsimple
-
had cratedperfect
-
was cratingprogressive
-
were cratingprogressive
-
had been cratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crate
1350–1400; 1915–20 crate for def. 3; Middle English, obscurely akin to Latin crātis wickerwork, hurdle
Explanation
A crate is a wooden container that's made for transporting or shipping goods. Your uncle might send you a crate of Florida oranges for a Christmas gift. Boxes made of wood that are filled with goods and loaded on trucks, ships, or planes are called crates, and to fill them is also to crate. Groceries are often shipped or delivered in crates, like crates of eggs, milk crates, or a crate of bananas. The amount of some item that fits in one crate is also called a crate — "The market ordered seven crates of ice cream for the Fourth of July weekend."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I had to go to a restaurant in Santa Barbara and stand on a crate while people were eating chicken parm.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 22, 2026
They hoisted it onto a crate, while one worker held its pointed top to keep it from falling.
From Barron's • Jun. 15, 2026
For the journey to London, the stand – which concertinas down into a relatively small space – will be put into an aluminium crate that regulates temperature and humidity.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
Wednesday, the Dalis family was asleep until their 3-year-old German shorthaired pointer began barking urgently from his unlocked crate in the master bedroom, according to homeowners Eleni and Tom Dalis.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
I wished I could tell Henrietta to put it in the crate, but she’s not exactly a trained superchicken.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
