different between crate vs packing

English

Etymology

From Dutch krat (“crate, large box, basket”), from Middle Dutch cratte (“basketware, mold”), from Old Dutch *kratta, *kratto (“basket”), from Proto-Germanic *kratjô, *krattijô (“basket”), from Proto-Indo-European *gred-, *gre(n)t- (“plaiting, wicker, basket, cradle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to bind, twist, wind”). Cognate with West Frisian kret (“wheelbarrow”), German Krätze (“basket”), Old English cræt, ceart (“cart, wagon, chariot”), Old Norse kartr (“wagon”), modern English cart.

Alternatively from Latin cr?tis (“wickerwork”), perhaps from the same PIE root.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?e?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t

Noun

crate (plural crates)

1. A large open box or basket, used especially to transport fragile goods. [from 1680s]

   Synonym: packing case

2. (slang, mildly derogatory) A vehicle (car, aircraft, spacecraft, etc.) seen as unreliable.
   • 1936, Joseph R. James, "More Gates Air Circus Antics" (Popular Aviation, November 1936)

     They shook the head of the unconscious pilot and when the latter opened his eyes, blinking wildly, the other members of the family lifted up the tail of the overturned crate sufficiently high enough to enable the dazed pilot, after releasing his belt, to fall out of the cockpit head first and disengage himself from the crack-up.

   • 2010, Gillian Coleby, Knocking on the Moonlit Door (page 99)

     I will make this box of electronics and computer chips fly like no other spaceship has ever flown. Mission Control wanted to see what this crate could do.

3. (programming) In the Rust programming language, a binary or library.
   • 2017, Jim Blandy, Jason Orendorff, Programming Rust: Fast, Safe Systems Development, "O'Reilly Media, Inc." (?ISBN), page 166:

     And Rust never compiles modules separately, even if they're in separate files: when you build a Rust crate, you're recompiling all of its modules.

Derived terms

• crate engine
• crate motor
• crate training

Translations

Verb

crate (third-person singular simple present crates, present participle crating, simple past and past participle crated)

1. (transitive) To put into a crate. [from 1871]
2. (transitive) To keep in a crate.

References

Anagrams

• Carte, Trace, acter, caret, carte, cater, creat, react, recta, reäct, trace

Latin

Noun

cr?te

1. ablative singular of cr?tis

English

Etymology

From Middle English pakkyng; equivalent to pack (“verb and noun senses”) +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pak??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?pæk??/
• Rhymes: -æk??

Verb

packing

1. present participle of pack

Derived terms

Noun

packing (plural packings)

1. The action of the verb.
   1. The action of putting things together, especially of putting clothes into a suitcase for a journey.
   2. (sciences, mathematics) The spatial arrangement of objects, items or constituent parts.
   3. The gathering of birds, animals etc. into a pack.
   4. (rugby) The forming of players into a scrum.
2. As a concrete noun.
   1. Material used to fill in the space around something, especially to make a piston etc. watertight or airtight.
   2. Material used to wrap a product for sale etc.; packaging.
   3. A fee charged to cover the costs of packaging.
   4. Special material used to fill containers or vessels for certain chemically related applications.

      Packing in a packed bed, or a column such as a distillation column or a chromatography column

Derived terms

• packing case
• packinghouse
• packing plant
• packing room