cater
Pronunciation Verb
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Pronunciation Verb
cater (caters, present participle catering; past and past participle catered)
- To provide, particularly:
- (ambitransitive) To provide with food, especially for a special occasion as a professional service.
- a. 1616, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Sc. iii, ll. 45 ff.:
- He that doth the Rauens feede,
Yea prouidently caters for the Sparrow.
- He that doth the Rauens feede,
- I catered for her bat mitzvah.
- His company catered our wedding.
- a. 1616, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Sc. iii, ll. 45 ff.:
- (intransitive, figurative, with 'to') To provide anything required or desired, often (pejorative) to pander.
- 1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Paris Sketch Book, Vol. II, p. 16:
- Art... was... catering to the national taste and vanity.
- I always wanted someone to cater to my every whim.
- 1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Paris Sketch Book, Vol. II, p. 16:
- (ambitransitive) To provide with food, especially for a special occasion as a professional service.
- French: faire traiteur
- Russian: обслу́живать
- Spanish: proveer comida para
- French: pourvoir, satisfaire
- Russian: обслу́живать
- Spanish: atender
cater (plural caters)
- (obsolete) Synonym of acater: an officer who purchased cates (food supplies) for the steward of a large household or estate.
- (obsolete) Synonym of caterer#English|caterer: any provider of food.
- (figurative, obsolete) Synonym of purveyor#English|purveyor: any provider of anything.
- 1590, Robert Greene, Greenes Mourning Garment, p. 28:
- The eye is loues Cator.
- 1590, Robert Greene, Greenes Mourning Garment, p. 28:
cater (caters, present participle catering; past and past participle catered)
- (UK dialect) To place, set, move, or cut diagonally or rhomboidally.
- 1577, Barnaby Googe transl. Conrad Heresbach as Foure Bookes of Husbandry, Bk. II, fol. 69v:
- 1873, Silverland, p. 129:
- ‘Cater’ across the rails ever so cleverly, you cannot escape jolt and jar.
cater (not comparable)
- (UK dialect, US) Diagonally.
- 1881, Sebastian Evans, Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs, s.v. "Cater and Cater-cornered":
- Cater and Cater-cornered, diagonal; diagonally. To ‘cut cater’ in the case of velvet, cloth, etc., is... ‘cut on the cross’. Cater-snozzle, to make an angle; to ‘mitre’.
- 1881, Sebastian Evans, Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs, s.v. "Cater and Cater-cornered":
cater (plural caters)
- (rare, obsolete) Four.
- (cards, dice, obsolete) The four of cards or dice.
- 1519, William Horman, Vulgaria, fol. 280v:
- Cater is a very good caste.
- 1519, William Horman, Vulgaria, fol. 280v:
- (music) A method of ringing nine bells in four pairs with a ninth tenor bell.
- 1872, Henry Thomas Ellacombe, The Bells of Church, p. 29:
- The very terms of the art are enough to frighten an amateur. Hunting, dodging... caters, cinques, etc.
- 1878, George Grove, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, s.v. "Cater":
- Cater... The name given by change ringers to changes of nine bells. The word should probably be written quaters, as it is meant to denote the fact that four couples of bells change their places in the order of ringing.
- 1872, Henry Thomas Ellacombe, The Bells of Church, p. 29:
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004