crate
Americannoun
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a slatted wooden box or framework for packing, shopping, or storing fruit, furniture, glassware, crockery, etc.
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any completely enclosed boxlike packing or shipping case.
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Informal. something rickety and dilapidated, especially an automobile.
They're still driving around in the old crate they bought 20 years ago.
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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)
noun
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a fairly large container, usually made of wooden slats or wickerwork, used for packing, storing, or transporting goods
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slang an old car, aeroplane, etc
verb
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The man opened one of his wooden crates and pulled out a half dozen paintings.
From Literature
He said this bill would allow agencies to stockpile crates so they don’t have to scramble when disaster strikes.
From Los Angeles Times
Then, when his parents explained it a little better, he pictured crates in locked rooms, the doors covered with Easter Seals.
From Literature
There was an old potbellied stove in the corner and a bunch of wooden crates that Cully used for furniture.
From Literature
Video showed customs officers prying open a crate to find the rock, its surface grey and rugged.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
