crater
[krey-ter]
- the cup-shaped depression or cavity on the surface of the earth or other heavenly body marking the orifice of a volcano.
- Also called impact crater, meteorite crater. (on the surface of the earth, moon, etc.) a bowl-shaped depression with a raised rim, formed by the impact of a meteoroid.Compare astrobleme.
- Astronomy. (on the surface of the moon) a circular or almost circular area having a depressed floor, almost always containing a central mountain and usually completely enclosed by walls that are often higher than those of a walled plain; ring formation; ring.Compare walled plain.
- the bowllike orifice of a geyser.
- the hole or pit in the ground where a bomb, shell, or military mine has exploded.
- Electricity. the cavity formed in a positive carbon electrode by an electric arc.
- Greek and Roman Antiquity. krater.
- Metalworking. a depression at the end of a bead produced by welding.
- genitive Cra·te·ris [krey-teer-is] /kreɪˈtɪər ɪs/. (initial capital letter) Astronomy. the Cup, a small southern constellation west of Corvus and north of Hydra.
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- to make craters in: Bombs had cratered the landscape.
- Slang.
- to cancel, abandon, or cast aside: to crater the new project.
- to destroy or ruin: One more disappointment won't crater me.
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- to form a crater or craters: The surface of the concrete cratered and cracked under the repeated impacts.
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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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cratering
Contemporary Examples
Dell is faced with a cratering PC market as well as competitors like Amazon in the IT service industry.
It was Jan. 29, 2010, and a key step toward shutting down Gitmo was cratering.
But Obama also inherited massive debt and a cratering economy, and military occupations are very expensive.
One can only imagine the chaos, the cratering economy, the emergence of all forms of social disorder.
It's not just socialism that's gaining in the polls due to the GOP's cratering popularity.
crater
- the bowl-shaped opening at the top or side of a volcano or top of a geyser through which lava and gases are emitted
- a similarly shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite or exploding bomb
- any of the circular or polygonal walled formations covering the surface of the moon and some other planets, formed probably either by volcanic action or by the impact of meteorites. They can have a diameter of up to 240 kilometres (150 miles) and a depth of 8900 metres (29 000 feet)
- a pit in an otherwise smooth surface
- a large open bowl with two handles, used for mixing wines, esp in ancient Greece
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- to make or form craters in (a surface, such as the ground)
- slang to fail; collapse; crash
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin: mixing bowl, crater, from Greek kratēr, from kerannunai to mix
Crater
- a small faint constellation in the S hemisphere lying between Virgo and Hydra
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for cratering
crater
n.
1610s, from Latin crater, from Greek krater "bowl for mixing wine with water," from kera- "to mix," from PIE root *kere- "to mix, confuse; cook" (see rare (adj.2)). Used in Latin for bowl-shaped mouth of a volcano. Applied to features of the Moon since 1860. As a verb, from 1830 in poetry, 1872 in science. Related: Cratered; cratering.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
crater
(krā′tər)- A circular depression or pit in the surface of a tissue or body part.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
crater
[krā′tər]
- 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.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.