1.
pot; iron pot; rice cooker pot
A cooking pot, especially the inner pot of a rice cooker or a traditional iron cooking pot. The お is a polite prefix.
炊飯器のお釜を洗う。
To wash the rice cooker pot.
このお釜で炊いたご飯はおいしい。
Rice cooked in this pot is delicious.
昔は鉄のお釜でご飯を炊いていた。
In the old days, they used to cook rice in an iron pot.
2.
rear-end collision (in the phrase おかまを掘る)
Used in the fixed expression お釜を掘る, meaning to rear-end another vehicle.
信号待ちでお釜を掘られた。
I got rear-ended while waiting at a traffic light.
前の車が急ブレーキをかけて、お釜を掘りそうになった。
The car ahead slammed on the brakes, and I almost rear-ended it.
渋滞中にお釜を掘られる事故が多い。
Rear-end collisions are common during traffic jams.
The basic meaning is a cooking pot, especially for rice. The word 釜 without the honorific お is also common. The phrase お釜を掘る (literally "to dig into someone's pot") is the standard colloquial expression for a rear-end collision.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 炊飯器のお釜: rice cooker inner pot
- 鉄のお釜: iron pot
- お釜を掘る: to rear-end (a vehicle)
- お釜を掘られる: to get rear-ended
RELATED TERMS:
- 鍋: pot, pan (more general cooking vessel)
- 追突: rear-end collision (formal/technical term)