crater, n. [L. crater, cratera, a mixing vessel, the mouth of a volcano, Gr. krath`r, fr. keranny`nai to mix; cf. Skr. to mix, to cook, to cook. Cf. Grail, in Holy Grail.].

The basinlike opening or mouth of a volcano, through which the chief eruption comes; similarly, the mouth of a geyser, about which a cone of silica is often built up. [1913 Webster]

The pit left by the explosion of a bomb, shell, or mine. [1913 Webster]

A constellation of the southen hemisphere; -- called also the Cup. [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

crater, n. & v.
--n.
1 the mouth of a volcano.
2 a bowl-shaped cavity, esp. that made by the explosion of a shell or bomb.
3 Astron. a hollow with a raised rim on the surface of a planet or moon, caused by the impact of a meteorite.
4 Antiq. a large ancient Greek bowl, used for mixing wine.
--v.tr. form a crater in.

Derivative

craterous adj.

Etymology

L f. Gk krater mixing-bowl: see CRASIS

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THESAURUS

crater
abysm, abyss, alveolation, alveolus, antrum, armpit, basin, birthmark, blackhead, bleb, blemish, blister, bowl, bulla, cavity, chasm, check, cicatrix, comedo, concave, concavity, crack, craze, crevasse, crypt, cup, deep, defacement, defect, deformation, deformity, depression, depth, dip, disfiguration, disfigurement, distortion, fault, flaw, fold, follicle, freckle, funnel chest, gulf, hemangioma, hickey, hole, hollow, hollow shell, keloid, kink, lacuna, lentigo, milium, mole, needle scar, nevus, pimple, pit, pock, pocket, pockmark, port-wine mark, port-wine stain, punch bowl, pustule, rift, scab, scar, scoop, scratch, sebaceous cyst, shaft, shell, sink, sinus, socket, split, strawberry mark, sty, track, trough, twist, verruca, vesicle, vug, wale, warp, wart, weal, well, welt, wen, whitehead, yawning abyss

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ROGET THESAURUS

crater

Depth
N depth, deepness, profundity, depression, hollow, pit, shaft, well, crater, gulf, bowels of the earth, botttomless pit, hell, soundings, depth of water, water, draught, submersion, plummet, sound, probe, sounding rod, sounding line, lead, bathymetry, sonar, side-looking sonar, bathometer, deep, deep seated, profound, sunk, buried, submerged, subaqueous, submarine, subterranean, subterraneous, subterrene, underground, bottomless, soundless, fathomless, unfathomed, unfathomable, abysmal, deep as a well, bathycolpian, benthal, benthopelagic, downreaching, yawning, knee deep, ankle deep, beyond one's depth, out of one's depth, over head and ears, mark twine, mark twain.

Concavity
N concavity, depression, dip, hollow, hollowness, indentation, intaglio, cavity, dent, dint, dimple, follicle, pit, sinus, alveolus, lacuna, excavation, strip mine, trough, honeycomb, cup, basin, crater, punch bowl, cell, socket, valley, vale, dale, dell, dingle, combe, bottom, slade, strath, glade, grove, glen, cave, cavern, cove, grot, grotto, alcove, cul-de- sac, gully, arch, bay, excavator, sapper, miner, honeycomb (sponge), depressed, alveolate, calathiform, cup-shaped, dishing, favaginous, faveolate, favose, scyphiform, scyphose, concave, hollow, stove in, retiring, retreating, cavernous, porous, infundibul, infundibular, infundibuliform, funnel shaped, bell shaped, campaniform, capsular, vaulted, arched.

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