crate

American  

[kreyt] / kreɪt /

noun

1. a slatted wooden box or framework for packing, shopping, or storing fruit, furniture, glassware, crockery, etc.

2. any completely enclosed boxlike packing or shipping case.

3. Informal. something rickety and dilapidated, especially an automobile.

   They're still driving around in the old crate they bought 20 years ago.

4. 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.

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verb (used with object)

crated, crating

1. to pack in a crate.

crate British  

/ kreɪt /

noun

1. a fairly large container, usually made of wooden slats or wickerwork, used for packing, storing, or transporting goods

2. slang an old car, aeroplane, etc

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verb

1. (tr) to pack or place in a crate

Other Word Forms

• crateful noun
• crater noun
• recrate verb (used with object)
• uncrate verb (used with object)
• uncrated adjectiveuncrated, uncrating

Etymology

Origin of crate

1350–1400; 1915–20 crate for def. 3; Middle English, obscurely akin to Latin crātis wickerwork, hurdle

Example Sentences

In his direct addresses to the jury, he used a set of wooden baby blocks, stacks of paper, even a hammer and a crate of eggs.

From Los Angeles Times

When investigators looked inside the home, they found that it did not have working smoke alarms and the main exit was partially blocked by dog crates and other items, according to the document.

From Los Angeles Times

I moved around some crates and broken furniture and started up the stairs.

From Literature

It arrived aboard a specially chartered plane but was not removed from its large wooden crate marked "fragile".

From BBC

She’s hauled pigs down apartment stairwells and coaxed them into crates for transport.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• box
• cage
• carton