Cra"ter (kr?t?r), n. [L. crater, cratera, a mixing vessel, the mouth of a volcano, Gr. , fr. to mix; cf. Skr. to mix, ir to cook, r to cook. Cf. Crail, in Holy Grail.]
1.
The basinlike opening or mouth of a volcano, through which the chief eruption comes; similarly, the mouth of a gevser, about which a cone of silica is often built up.
2. Mil.
The pit left by the explosion of a mine.
3. Astron.
A constellation of the southen hemisphere; -- called also the Cup.
© Webster 1913.