Etymology From Middle English catour (“acater, provisioner”), aphetic form of acatour (“acater”), from Old French acater (“to buy, to purchase”). Equivalent to cate + -er.
1
To provide, particularly
Noe widdowes curse caters a dish of mine.a. 1635, Thomas Randolph, Poems, On the Inestimable Content He Injoyes, page 4:
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:
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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:
› To provide
2
Ambitransitive To provide with food, especially for a special occasion as a professional service.
I catered for her bat mitzvah.
His company catered our wedding.
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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.:
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Figuratively, With 'to' To provide anything required or desired, often (derogatory) to pander.
I always wanted someone to cater to my every whim.
Art... was... catering to the national taste and vanity.1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Paris Sketch Book, volume 2, page 16:
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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:
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Figuratively, With 'for' To tailor something to an intended audience.
The business caters for young professionals.
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:
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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:
Etymology From Middle English catour (“acater, provisioner”), aphetic form of acatour (“acater”), from Old French acater (“to buy, to purchase”). Equivalent to cate + -er.
1
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):
2
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:
The eye is loues Cator.1590, Robert Greene, Greenes Mourning Garment, page 28:
cater
adv
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.
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.
1
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:
cater
noun
UK /ˈkatə/ · US /ˈkeɪtəɹ/
Etymology From French quatre (“four”). Doublet of cuatro.
Cater is a very good caste.1519, William Horman, Vulgaria, fol. 280v:
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music 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":