crater

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A bowl-shaped depression created by the activity of a volcano or geyser.
• noun A bowl-shaped depression in a surface made by an explosion or the impact of a body, such as a meteoroid.
• noun A pit; a hollow.
• intransitive verb To make craters in.
• intransitive verb To form a crater or craters.
• intransitive verb To fall and crash violently from a great height.
• intransitive verb To fail utterly.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A caldera.
• noun pl. crateres (krā˙-tē′ rēz). In classical antiquity, a large vessel or vase in which water was mixed with wine according to accepted formulas, and from which it was dipped out and served to the guests in the smaller pouring-vessels (oinochoe).
• noun In geology, the cup-shaped depression or cavity of a volcano, forming the orifice through which the erupted material finds its way to the surface, or has done so in former times if the volcano is at present extinct or dormant.
• noun Milit., a cavity formed by the explosion of a military mine.
• noun Any hollow made in the earth by subterranean forces.
• noun [capitalized] An ancient southern constellation south of Leo and Virgo. It is supposed to represent a vase with two handles and a base.
• noun In electricity, a hollow cavity formed in the positive carbon of an arclamp when continuous currents are used.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun 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.
• noun (Mil.) The pit left by the explosion of a bomb, shell, or mine.
• noun (Astron.) A constellation of the southen hemisphere; -- called also the Cup.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun astronomy A hemispherical pit created by the impact of a meteorite or other object.
• noun geology 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.
• noun informal The pit left by the explosion of a mine or bomb.
• noun informal Any large, roughly circular depression or hole.
• verb To collapse catastrophically; implode; hollow out; to become devastated or completely destroyed.
• verb snowboarding To crash or fall.
• noun Ireland, informal A term of endearment, a dote, a wretched thing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a faint constellation in the southern hemisphere near Hydra and Corvus
• noun a bowl-shaped geological formation at the top of a volcano
• noun a bowl-shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite or bomb