Dictionary
cra•ter
Pronunciation: (krā'tur), [key]
—n.,
—gen. Cra•te•risPronunciation: (krā-tēr'is) [key] for 9,
—v.
—
n.
1. the cup-shaped depression or cavity on the surface of the earth or other heavenly body marking the orifice of a volcano.
2. 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. Cf.
astrobleme.
3. Astron.(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. Cf.
walled plain.
4. the bowllike orifice of a geyser.
5. the hole or pit in the ground where a bomb, shell, or military mine has exploded.
6. Elect.the cavity formed in a positive carbon electrode by an electric arc.
7. Gk. and Rom. Antiq.krater.
8. Metalworking.a depression at the end of a bead produced by welding.
9. (
cap.)
Astron.the Cup, a small southern constellation west of Corvus and north of Hydra.
—
v.t.
1. to make craters in:
Bombs had cratered the landscape.
2. Slang.
a. to cancel, abandon, or cast aside:
to crater the new project.
b. to destroy or ruin:
One more disappointment won't crater me.
—
v.i.
to form a crater or craters:
The surface of the concrete cratered and cracked under the repeated impacts. Cra•ter
Pronunciation: (krā'tur), [key]—
n.
Joseph Force Pronunciation: (fôrs, fōrs), [key] 1889–?, a judge of the New York State Supreme Court: his mysterious disappearance on August 6, 1930, has never been solved.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
