CRATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crate mean? 

• CRATE (noun)
  The noun CRATE has 2 senses:

1. a rugged box (usually made of wood); used for shipping

2. the quantity contained in a crate

  Familiarity information: CRATE used as a noun is rare.

• CRATE (verb)
  The verb CRATE has 1 sense:

1. put into a crate; as for protection

  Familiarity information: CRATE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rugged box (usually made of wood); used for shipping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("crate" is a kind of...):

box (a (usually rectangular) container; may have a lid)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crate"):

packing box; packing case (a large crate in which goods are packed for shipment or storage)

soapbox (a crate for packing soap)

Derivation:

crate (put into a crate; as for protection)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quantity contained in a crate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

crate; crateful

Hypernyms ("crate" is a kind of...):

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

• CRATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they crate    ... he / she / it crates   
Past simple: crated   
Past participle: crated   
-ing form: crating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put into a crate; as for protection

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

crate the paintings before shipping them to the museum

Hypernyms (to "crate" is one way to...):

case; encase; incase (enclose in, or as if in, a case)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They crate the goods

Antonym:

uncrate (remove from the crate)

Derivation:

crate (a rugged box (usually made of wood); used for shipping)

 Context examples 

Then the rope was removed, and he was flung into a cagelike crate.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between layers of lead foil.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was the first time that the lawyer had been received in that part of his friend’s quarters; and he eyed the dingy, windowless structure with curiosity, and gazed round with a distasteful sense of strangeness as he crossed the theatre, once crowded with eager students and now lying gaunt and silent, the tables laden with chemical apparatus, the floor strewn with crates and littered with packing straw, and the light falling dimly through the foggy cupola.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A splintered boat and a number of crates and fragments of spars rising and falling on the waves showed us where the vessel had foundered; but there was no sign of life, and we had turned away in despair when we heard a cry for help, and saw at some distance a piece of wreckage with a man lying stretched across it.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I shall stand behind this crate, and do you conceal yourselves behind those.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Four men gingerly carried the crate from the wagon into a small, high-walled back yard.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Mr. Utterson’s nerves, at this unlooked-for termination, gave a jerk that nearly threw him from his balance; but he recollected his courage and followed the butler into the laboratory building through the surgical theatre, with its lumber of crates and bottles, to the foot of the stair.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Mr. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all round with crates and massive boxes.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Sure,” the man replied, driving the hatchet into the crate for a pry.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It seems he had slipped out to look for this drug or whatever it is; for the cabinet door was open, and there he was at the far end of the room digging among the crates.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)