Get out of the crate: it disintegrated (9)
I believe the answer is:
extricate
'get' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'out of the crate it disintegrated' is the wordplay.
'out of' becomes 'ex' ('out of' in Latin).
'disintegrated' indicates anagramming the letters.
'crate'+'it'='crateit'
'crateit' is an anagram of 'tricate'.
'ex'+'tricate'='EXTRICATE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for extricate that I've seen before include "Free (something) from difficulty" , "wriggle free" , "Free from complicated situation" , "get out from difficult situation" , "Disentangle, set free" .)