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
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.
It is important and inspirational and hopefully encourages others to pick up their pens or head off to do some crate digging or other cultural archeology.
From Salon • Apr. 14, 2026
Then, his father pulled a milk crate up to a hedge.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026
Officers brought the parrot back to the airport police station where it was "provided with fruit, water and some toys and a comfortable temporary enclosure made from and dog crate and brush handle".
From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026
Video showed customs officers prying open a crate to find the rock, its surface grey and rugged.
From Barron's • Feb. 5, 2026
It is followed by frantic squawking, and I realize it is only a chicken crate that has smashed into an ale barrel down below.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
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.
