crate

[ kreyt ]

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.

verb (used with object)

, crat·ed, crat·ing.

1. to pack in a crate.

crate

/ 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

verb

1. tr to pack or place in a crate

Derived Forms

• ˈcrater, noun
• ˈcrateful, noun

Other Words From

• re·crate verb (used with object) recrated recrating
• un·crate verb (used with object) uncrated uncrating
• un·crated adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of crate¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of crate¹

C16: from Latin crātis wickerwork, hurdle

Example Sentences

Two hundred bones are packed in crates, each in its own custom foam cradle.

From Los Angeles Times

Potatoes would arrive in huge wooden crates and have to be lugged up from the cellar.

From BBC

He said the garden is full of items such as shopping trolleys, refrigerators and crates, and is getting “worse and worse”.

From BBC

Of the 41 crates of banana boxes - four were clearly put to one side.

From BBC

Dr Mott is aware of one firm that bought “crates worth of Chromebooks” for staff in the wake of a cyber-incident, so that they could work without needing access to the company network.

From BBC

Related Words

• box
• cage
• carton