Word.ws English Dictionary

crate-dig

crate-dig verb: to shop for vintage, rare, or otherwise obscure recordings, especially by looking through crates containing secondhand merchandise.

Verb

crate-dig (third-person singular simple present crate-digs, present participle crate-digging, simple past and past participle crate-dug)

  1. (ambitransitive, slang) To shop for vintage, rare, or otherwise obscure recordings, especially by looking through crates containing secondhand merchandise.
    • Earlier this year, German crate-digging label Analog Africa released a retrospective of Mayorga’s more exploratory electronic works, while a new album of original compositions titled Cumbia Pishcodélica is slated for release in the coming months via Musicoteca Ecuador.2023 February 10, Richard Villegas, “Three Latin American Music Legends Protecting the Past To Secure the Future”, in Rolling Stone
    • There’s definitely a nonzero chance that samples from this record might be found in ’90s releases from DJ Shadow and his fellow crate-digging beat miners.2023 June 11, Phillip Sherburne, “Croaking Frogs, Buzzing Hornets, Squealing Dolphins: A Guide to Smithsonian Folkways’ Best Science and Nature Recordings”, in Pitchfork

Forms of crate-dig

third-person singular presentcrate-digs
present participlecrate-digging
past participlecrate-dug
pastcrate-dug
alternative formcratedig

Origin of crate-dig

From crate + dig, first attested in 2005.

Questions about crate-dig

What does crate-dig mean?
Crate-dig means to shop for vintage, rare, or otherwise obscure recordings, especially by looking through crates containing secondhand merchandise.
What part of speech is crate-dig?
Crate-dig is a verb.
What is the past tense of crate-dig?
The past tense of crate-dig is crate-dug.

Words near crate-dig in the dictionary

  1. crate engines
  2. crate motor
  3. crate motors
  4. crate myrtle
  5. crate shy of a load
  6. crate-dig
  7. crate-digger
  8. crate-diggers
  9. crate-digging
  10. crate-digs
  11. crate-dug

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crate-dig (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “crate-dig.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crate-dig. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.