crater

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The pit left by the explosion of a mine or bomb.

   But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.

2. 2
   noun

   Alternative spelling of krater (“vessel for mixing water and wine”).

   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.

3. 3
   verb

   To collapse catastrophically; to become devastated or completely destroyed.

   Yup, John McCain said to me the economy “is about to crater.” You folks worried about the economy? Whoo! Not me.

4. 4
   verb

   To crash or fall.

   He cratered into that snow bank about five seconds after his first lesson.

5. 5
   noun

   Alternative form of creature.

   I then had the two best tarriers beneath the canopy; this poor crater is their daughter," and he patted the dog's head affectionately.

6. 6
   noun

   a bowl-shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite or bomb

7. 7
   noun

   a bowl-shaped geological formation at the top of a volcano

8. 8
   noun

   A hemispherical pit created by the impact of a meteorite or other object.

Etymology

From Latin crater (“basin; cup”), from Ancient Greek κρατήρ (kratḗr, “mixing bowl, wassail-bowl”), from κράμα (kráma, “mixture”), from κεράννυμι (keránnumi, “to mix, to mingle”).