From Middle English catour (“acater, provisioner”), aphetic form of acatour (“acater”), from Old French acater (“to buy, to purchase”). Equivalent to cate + -er.
Meanings
(obsolete) Synonym of acater: an officer who purchased cates (food supplies) for the steward of a large household or estate.
I am oure Catour and bere oure Alther purse. c. 1400, Gamelyn, ll. 321 ff.:
Rec. for iij calvys off þe cater of Crystis Cherche. 1512, Account Book of the Hospital of St. John, Canterbury (1510–1556):
(obsolete) Synonym of caterer: any provider of food.
Of his diete catour was scarsite... c. 1430, John Lydgate translating Giovanni Boccaccio, The Fall of Princes, Bk. VII, Ch. x, l. 161:
(figuratively, obsolete) Synonym of purveyor: any provider of anything.
The eye is loues Cator. 1590, Robert Greene, Greenes Mourning Garment, page 28:
From Middle English catour (“acater, provisioner”), aphetic form of acatour (“acater”), from Old French acater (“to buy, to purchase”). Equivalent to cate + -er.
Meanings
To provide, particularly
Priya’s parents’ Hinduism seemed to present conflicting views of sex: […] What people don’t know about the Kama Sutra is that it’s actually a text that … very heavily caters to Madonna/whore complexes. That it’s actually quite misogynistic. And that it’s actually catered more for male pleasure and … males always will have the upper hand according to the Kama Sutra. 2020, Pamela Dickey Young, Heather Shipley, “Emerging-Adult Opinions on Religion and Sexuality”, in Identities Under Construction: Religion, Gender, and Sexuality among Youth in Canada, McGill-Queen’s University Press, →ISBN, pages 59–60:
Noe widdowes curse caters a dish of mine. a. 1635, Thomas Randolph, Poems, On the Inestimable Content He Injoyes, page 4:
Huludao’s Xingcheng county and two districts have ordered entertainment venues such as theatres and cinemas to close, while restaurants are not to offer banqueting services or cater for large gatherings. 2022 February 10, Zhuang Pinghui, “Omicron cases crash in ‘vital window’ for China city Baise’s outbreak battle”, in South China Morning Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Feb 2022, Science:
(ambitransitive) To provide ▸ To provide with food, especially for a special occasion as a professional service.
I catered for her bat mitzvah.
His company catered our wedding.
He that doth the Rauens feede,
Yea prouidently caters for the Sparrow. a. 1616, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, act 2, scene 3, lines 45 ff.:
(figuratively, intransitive, with 'to') To provide ▸ To provide anything required or desired, often (derogatory) to pander.
One by one / Rooted from a place of intolerance / I won't cater to a coward / That hides behind a fraternity / Just so he can feel empowered 2016 September 16, “Oblivions Peak” (00:38-00:56 from the start), in Laugh Tracks (hardcore punk, beatdown hardcore), performed by Knocked Loose:
Art... was... catering to the national taste and vanity. 1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Paris Sketch Book, volume 2, page 16:
I always wanted someone to cater to my every whim.
And on the other side of the enter key, they would almost invariably find forums collectively celebrating individuals’ secret desires, or enterprising smut-mongers catering directly to them. 2016 July 14, Mark Hay, “Datagasm”, in Aeon:
(figuratively, intransitive, with 'for') To provide ▸ To tailor something to an intended audience.
A gents' toilet room might be found in a house that caters for the cheaper class of theatrical patronage, where the slangy language of the "goin' to the mat this aft?" style prevails. A gents toilet room is not found in the Southern Hotel. It either "men's" or "gentlemen's". 1898, The Hotel/Motor Hotel Monthly, volume 6, page 27:
The former were catered for both by liquor stores and, to a lesser extent, by the bottle shops of hotels. 1998, Sherry Saggers, Dennis Gray, Dealing with Alcohol: Indigenous Usage in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, page 108:
uk обслужи́ти (provide anything required or desired) · ca atendre (provide anything required or desired) · de versorgen (provide anything required or desired) · es proveer comida para (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · ru обслу́живать (provide anything required or desired) · fi ottaa huomioon (provide anything required or desired) · ru обеспе́чивать (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · fi järjestää ruokatarjoilu (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · uk обслуго́вувати (provide anything required or desired) · fr satisfaire (provide anything required or desired) · es hacer el catering (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · bg угаждам (provide anything required or desired) · es hacer la banquetería (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · pt prover (provide anything required or desired) · ru потво́рствовать (provide anything required or desired) · oc provesir (provide anything required or desired) · eo provianti (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · pt servir (provide anything required or desired) · es ser el banquetero (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · ru угожда́ть (provide anything required or desired) · oc dotar (provide anything required or desired) · pt satisfazer (provide anything required or desired) · es complacer (provide anything required or desired) · oc subvenir (provide anything required or desired) · ru обслу́живать (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · es acorrer (provide anything required or desired) · fr pourvoir (provide anything required or desired) · uk обслужи́ти (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · oc aprovesir (provide anything required or desired) · fr faire traiteur (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service) · uk обслуго́вувати (to provide food for a special occasion as a professional service)
cater en · ADV · etymology 2
Etymology
Probably ultimately from French quatre (“four”), possibly via cater (“change-ringing”), although Liberman argues for a derivation from a North Germanic prefix meaning "crooked, angled, clumsy" from which he also derives cater-cousin and, via Norse, Old Irish cittach (“left-handed, awkward”). He finds this more likely than extension of the dice and change-ringing term cater as an adverb, given the likely cognates in other Germanic languages. Caterpillar and caterwaul are unrelated, being derived from cognates to cat, but may have influenced the pronunciation of Liberman's proposed earlier *cate- or undergone similar sound changes.
Meanings
(UK, US, dialectal, not-comparable) Diagonally.
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":
Probably ultimately from French quatre (“four”), possibly via cater (“change-ringing”), although Liberman argues for a derivation from a North Germanic prefix meaning "crooked, angled, clumsy" from which he also derives cater-cousin and, via Norse, Old Irish cittach (“left-handed, awkward”). He finds this more likely than extension of the dice and change-ringing term cater as an adverb, given the likely cognates in other Germanic languages. Caterpillar and caterwaul are unrelated, being derived from cognates to cat, but may have influenced the pronunciation of Liberman's proposed earlier *cate- or undergone similar sound changes.
Meanings
(UK, dialectal) To place, set, move, or cut diagonally or rhomboidally.
The trees are set checkerwise, and so catred [Latin: partim in quincuncem directis], as looke which way ye wyl, they lye leuel. 1577, Barnaby Googe transl. Conrad Heresbach, Foure Bookes of Husbandry, Bk. II, fol. 69v:
‘Cater’ across the rails ever so cleverly, you cannot escape jolt and jar. 1873, Silverland, page 129:
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
catering
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
caters
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
catered
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
catered
Tense=Past
lexicographic
cater en · NOUN · etymology 3
Pronunciation
/ˈkatə/ (UK)
/ˈkeɪtə/ (UK)
/ˈkeɪtəɹ/ (US)
Etymology
From French quatre (“four”). Doublet of cuatro.
Meanings
(obsolete, rare) Four.
The auditour... cometh in with sise sould, and cater denere, for vi.s. and iiii.d. 1553, Thomas Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique..., page 86:
(obsolete) The four of cards or dice.
Cater is a very good caste. 1519, William Horman, Vulgaria, fol. 280v:
A method of ringing nine bells in four pairs with a ninth tenor bell.
The very terms of the art are enough to frighten an amateur. Hunting, dodging... caters, cinques, etc. 1872, Henry Thomas Ellacombe, The Bells of Church, page 29:
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. 1878, George Grove, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, s.v. "Cater":
ja ケイト (four of cards or dice) · pl kwater (four of cards or dice) · pt quadra (four of cards or dice) · ko 케이트 (four of cards or dice) · pl kwadr (four of cards or dice)