| 释义 |
▪ I. plate, n.|pleɪt|
Forms: 3– plate; also 5 plaate, 5–6 platt, playt(e, pla(y)the, 5–7 plaite, plaitt, 5–8 plat, plait, 6 (Sc.) pleit, plet.
[ME. plate, a. OF. plate (c 1175 in Littré) thin plate, lamina of metal, etc. (in form = Pr., Sp. plata, Pg. prata, It. piatta), in origin the fem. form of F. plat, plate:—late and med.L. plattus, -a, -um adj. ‘flat’: see plat a. (In Sp. and Pg., from the sense ‘plate or disk of metal’ (quasi *plata d'argento plate of silver, coin), plata, prata developed that of ‘silver, money’, in which sense it has superseded argento.) Senses 13 and 14 are orig. from OF., but were reinforced in 16th c. from Sp. plata. In sense 15, plate represents OF. vaisselle en plate, orig. vessels (dishes, plates, etc.) of a single piece of metal (not made up of pieces), particularly of silver or gold, mod.F. vaisselle plate = (silver) plate. Branch III might be considered a distinct word; it represents OF. plat (14th c. in Littré) ‘a platter or great dish; also, a dish of meat’ (Cotgr.) = It. piatto, ‘a platter, a dish, a charger, a plate’; also ‘a messe or dish of meat’ (Florio), med.L. plat(t)um, in origin the masc. or neuter form of the same adj. (quasi-late L. *vas plattum flat vessel). But in Eng. it has run together with the senses from OF. plate, and is more or less associated with senses 15, 17. From the OF. plate, or its Romanic equivalent, came also MLG., MDu., LG. plāte, Du. plaat, MHG. plate, blate, Ger. platte a plate.]
I. A flat sheet of metal, etc.
1. A flat, comparatively thin, usually rigid sheet, slice, leaf, or lamina of metal or other substance, of more or less uniform thickness and even surface.
a. Of metal.
In early instances, esp. in the pl., not separable from plat n.2 1.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 187/79 He let nime platus of Ire sum del þunne and brode..And on þe berninde plates him casten. 1382Wyclif 2 Kings xviii. 16 Ezechias brake the doris of the temple of the Lord, and the platis of gold, the whiche he hadde affitchide. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 195 Take whete & leie bitwixe two platis of iren hoot. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 94 Þe walles within er couerd with plates of gold and siluer; and in þose platez er storys of kynges and knyghtes and batales. 1533Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 84 For xx plaitis of quhite irne to be ane skons to the chymnay in the Kingis chalmer. 1641Wilkins Math. Magick ii. i. (1648) 153 A leaden bullet shot from one of these gunnes..will be beaten into a thinne plate. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 75 A plate of polished iron or steel.
b. Of other substances.
1665Phil. Trans. I. 64 Getting Plates of glass thick and broad enough. 1758Reid tr. Macquer's Chym. I. 292 The Sedative Salt begins to make its appearance in little, fine, shining plates, floating on the surface of the liquor. 1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 613 The crystals are brilliant plates. 1831Brewster Optics xii. 102 The method used by Sir Isaac Newton for producing a thin plate of air. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. vii. 54, I could with ease obtain plates of it [glacier ice] a quarter of an inch thick. 1900J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. XI. No. 41. 17 The congestion is attended by conspicuous loosening of the epidermis from the derma in plates of greater or less size.
c. Anat., Zool., and Bot. A thin flat organic structure or formation. blood-plate = hæmatoblast a.
1658Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 985 The Bruchus... The Male..from the back to the tail it is set out with six leek coloured plates running across from the back to both sides. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 23 The Gloworm..the broad flat cap or plate which covers her head. 1842H. Miller O.R. Sandst. iii. (ed. 2) 73 A strong armour of bony plates. 1870Rolleston Anim. Life 145 The ambulacral plates [of Echinoderms]. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 597 Nor were there any blood-plates. Ibid. VIII. 894 The growths [of Xanthoma] occur either as thin flat plates..or as nodules or lumps.
d. A number of animal skins sewn together, for making up into fur coats or for linings, trimmings, etc.
1910Encycl. Brit. XI. 354/2 A very great feature of German and Russian work is the fur linings called rotondes, sacques or plates. 1957M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 256/1 Plate,..2. Skins sewn together, but not completely fitted or finished, for fur linings; also used to make garments or trimmings. 1972Guardian 11 Aug. 7/8 The [import] ban did not include ‘plates’—sections of fur coats ready to be made up. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia VII. 816/1 The less costly skin-on-skin method consists of sewing one full skin adjacent to another in a uniform alignment. This method is sometimes employed to sew the leftovers of full skins such as paws and flanks, into blanket-like ‘plates’ that are then fashioned into garments.
e. Geol. Each of the several nearly rigid pieces of lithosphere which are thought to make up the whole of the earth's surface and to be moving slowly relative to one another, the boundaries between adjacent ones being identified with well-defined belts of seismic, volcanic, and tectonic activity.
[1904H. B. C. Sollas tr. Suess' Face of Earth I. ii. xxii. 600 Towards the north [of North America], however, a very extensive ‘plate’ without folding appears, which stretches nearly to the Arctic archipelago. 1910Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. XXI. 191 As Suess says, we do not know the character of the platforms upon which lie the seas behind island arcs;..the platforms may be composed of ancient, crystalline rocks which moved as ‘plates’ without parallel foldings. ]1965J. T. Wilson in Nature 24 July 343/1 Many geologists have maintained that movements of the Earth's crust are concentrated in mobile belts, which may take the form of mountains, mid-ocean ridges or major faults... This article suggests that these features are not isolated, that few come to dead ends, but that they are connected into a continuous network of mobile belts about the Earth which divide the surface into several large rigid plates. 1969Jrnl. Geophysical Res. LXXIV. 4298/2 In the New Guinea mainland the zone of southerly dipping earthquakes can be associated with the northern edge of the Australian continent meeting the Pacific ‘plate’ and creating an overthrust zone of mountain building. 1972McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 305/1 Lithospheric plates are..segments of upper mantle and crust, varying in thickness from approximately 5 km at ridges to 150 km under central areas of continents, that are generated by growth of crust and mantle at oceanic ridges..and consumed in trenches. 1976M. A. Khan Global Geol. viii. 147 The lower boundary of the plates is the base of the rigid lithosphere which moves over the plastic convecting asthenosphere. The plates are therefore often referred to as lithospheric plates.
2. As a material: Metal beaten, rolled, or cast into sheets.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 1330 Þe celynge with-inne was siluer plat & with red gold ful wel yguld. 1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 88 Doubles of plate for charging ladelles. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 10 Vpon a Stith with a Mallet it [gold] is brought into most thin leafe or plate. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 25 Take care when you elect this thin Piece of Plate, that it be broad enough for the Ward. 1870Ruskin Wks. (1872) III. 153 When metal is beaten thin, it becomes what is technically called ‘plate’. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Black-plate, sheet iron before tinning.
3. a. One of the thin pieces of steel or iron composing plate-armour. b. (without a or pl.) Armour composed of these pieces fastened together or upon leather or some strong woven material; plate-armour: often attrib.: see also 20. Cf. breast-plate, etc. Now Hist. or arch.
13..Coer de L. 375 For plate, ne for acketton. 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2017 Boþe his paunce & his platez, piked ful clene. c1386–[see breast-plate 1]. a1400–50Alexander 1213 Grathed in playthes [MS. A. armed in plates]. c1420Lydg. Sege Thebes 1864 He..armed hym in Mayle and sure platys. 1517Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 83 Meam tunicam præliariam, quæ dicitur a cott of plait. 1594Carew Tasso (1881) 15 Playted lockes pressing with cap of plate. 1602in Burns & Nicholson Westmld. (1777) 595 To be armed with jack, steel cap, plaite sleeves, plaite breeches, plaite socks. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 368 Mangl'd with gastly wounds through Plate and Maile. a1674― Hist. Mosc. i. Wks. 1851 VIII. 478 Thir Armour is a Coat of Plate, and a Scull on thir Heads. 1808Scott Marm. i. vi, Well was he armed from head to heel In mail and plate of Milan steel. 1874Boutell Arms & Arm. x. 195 A gorget of plate at times was worn about the neck.
4. A flat piece or slab of metal, wood, or other substance, forming or adapted to form part of a piece of mechanism, etc.;
e.g. a. each of the parallel sheets of metal forming the back and front walls of a lock, or of a watch or clock; b. the circular piece of glass in an electrical machine, which generates a current when rubbed between cushions; c. a stiffening piece of metal on each side of the lock of a fire-arm; d. the flat slab for the reception of the bait in a spring trap; e. one of the sheets of metal of which ships' armour, steam-boilers, etc., are composed, or a similar sheet forming the bed or roof of a furnace; f. (Dentistry) the portion of a denture which fits to the mouth and holds the teeth; also, a similar portion of any orthodontic appliance; by extension, the whole denture or other appliance; g. a centre-board.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §3 The moder of thin Astrelabie is þe thikkeste plate, perced with a large hole. 1485in Sharp Cov. Myst. (1825) 189 Payd for revettyng of þe plats, & for þe iiij boultes xs. ob. 1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1768/4 He had a Case of Holster-Pistols, with R. Silke Engraven on the Plate of the Lock. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 24 To every Ward on the Plates, you must make a Slit, or Ward in the Bit of the Key. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 219 The blade of a saw is generally called the plate. 1839G. Bird Nat. Philos. 183 When the plate or cylinder of the machine is turned, the rubber communicating to the earth by a metallic chain, if a brass knob, or a knuckle be held towards the prime conductor, a vivid spark darts between them. 1845Looking Unto Jesus 17 It was then found necessary to have a plate made and fitted on her front teeth. 1863P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 231 The plate and angle-bar mills are capable of turning out 20,000 tons of plates and angle-bars annually, for ships, boilers, or bridges. 1880Carnegie Pract. Trap. 35 The traps if baited will require about twenty grains of corn to be placed on the plate. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 199 The plates of a watch are the discs of brass which form the foundation of the movement... The plates of a clock are the two pieces of brass which receive the pivots of the train. 1895Outing XXVI. 488/2 Her draft will be 7 inches, and she will carry a dagger plate of 3/16 bronze. 1902Westm. Gaz. 4 Nov. 8/2 The four fire-boxes will want new crown plates. 1932E. Bowen To North v. 44 Her confirmation.., the fixing-in of a plate to correct prominent teeth,..had all been reported to him. 1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 162, I had been coming down from Oxford about six times a year since I was ten so that he could put in and take out all the lousy braces and plates and other crap with which he tried to tame my mouth. 1977B. Pym Quartet in Autumn v. 52 He had to visit the dentist, to adjust his new plate and to practise eating with it.
h. Electr. A metal plate that acts as a charge-storing electrode in a capacitor.
1782Phil. Trans. R. Soc. LXXII. p. xxvii, An ample conductor, weakly electrified, imparts a considerable quantity of electricity to the metal plate of our condenser. 1801Encycl. Brit. Suppl. I. 591/1 The mode of accumulating great quantities of fluid by means of parallel plates. 1887P. Benjamin Age of Electricity xi. 259 The condenser will be charged with a quantity of electricity depending upon..the surface of the plates opposed to each other, and..the number of plates in the respective sets. 1923E. W. Marchant Radio Telegr. & Teleph. ii. 15 A condenser can be charged by supplying positive electricity to one plate and negative electricity to the other. 1963A. F. Abbott Ordinary Level Physics xxxv. 460 A parallel-plate capacitor is set up as shown.., one plate being earthed and the other..charged.
i. Electr. A metal electrode in a cell or battery, esp. one in the form of a plate or grid.
[1801H. Davy in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. XCI. 397, I have found that an accumulation of galvanic influence, exactly similar to the accumulation in the common pile, may be produced by the arrangement of single metallic plates, or arcs, with different strata of fluids.] 1807― in Ibid. XCVII. 15 The strong action of a battery of 150 pairs of plates of 4 inches square. 1828F. Watkins Pop. Sk. Electro-Magnetism 15 Batteries of this construction usually consist of ten or twelve pairs of plates. 1923Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 71/1 The container [of a dry cell] is made of zinc and this is used as the zinc plate. 1963A. F. Abbott Ordinary Level Physics xxxvi. 474 In modern commercial practice the plates [of a lead-acid cell] are made of grids of a lead-antimony alloy filled with paste... Red lead (Pb3O4) is used for the positive plates and litharge (PbO) for the negative plates. 1970AA Bk. Car 82/4 When the surfaces of both plates have turned completely to lead sulphate, the battery is flat.
j. Electronics. The anode of a thermionic valve.
1905J. A. Fleming in Proc. R. Soc. LXXIV. 477 It is preferable to use a metal plate carried on a platinum wire sealed into the glass bulb, the plate being bent into a cylinder which surrounds both the legs of the carbon loop. Ibid. 479 The resistance of these valves..may be anything from a few hundred ohms up to some megohms, depending on the state of incandescence of the filament.., as well as upon the size of the filament and the plate. 1915Electrician 21 May 244/2 The plate of the pliotron oscillator is then connected to one of the terminals of the condenser. 1948A. L. Albert Radio Fundamentals vi. 178 The plate usually surrounds the cathode in high-vacuum diodes. 1975D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. vii. 21 The collector element for the electron flow is the anode, or plate.
5. a. A smooth or polished plate of metal, etc. (as in sense 1) for writing or engraving on.
1388Wyclif Job xix. 24 With an yrun poyntil, ethir with a plate of leed; ethir with a chisel be grauun in a flynt. 1571Digges Pantom. i. xxvi. H ij b, Ye shall vppon some plaine borde, plate, or suche like, drawe a straight line. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 85 Which also you haue imprinted in the tables of your remembrance, and ingrauen in the plates of your deep understanding. c1595Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 33 Another plate of lead with her Majesties armes drawne on it.
b. Such a plate of metal, etc., bearing a name or inscription, for affixing to anything, as brass plate, coffin-plate, door-plate, name-plate.
letter plate, a plate with a slot through which letters may be dropped, for attaching to a door.
1668P. Fisher (title) The Catalogue of Most of the Memorable Tombes, Grave-stones, Plates, Escutcheons, or Atchievements in the..Churches of London. 1807Wordsw. Wh. Doe vii. 345 Plate of monumental brass Dim-gleaming among weeds and grass. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xxxiii, Of no greater importance than the plate, ‘Brass, Solicitor’, upon the door. 1881Young Every Man his own Mechanic §1044 Letter Plates, from 1/– to 15/– each. 1894Hall Caine Manxman v. vi, A line of houses having brass plates.
c. Photogr. A thin sheet of metal, porcelain, or (now usually) glass, coated with a film sensitive to light, on which photographs are taken.
A whole-plate measures 8½ × 6½ inches; half-plate (English) 6½ × 43/4 inches; (U.S.) 5½ × 41/4 inches; quarter-plate, 41/4 × 31/4 inches. dry plate: see dry a. C. 3.
1840Penny Cycl. XVIII. 113/2 Thus prepared, the plate is next placed within a camera-obscura..and the delineation of the object is then effected. 1855T. F. Hardwich Man. Photogr. Chem. 13 We are indebted to Sir John Herschel for the first use of glass plates to receive sensitive Photographic films. 1876Abney Instr. Photogr. (ed. 3) 61 With dry plates, and on some occasions with wet plates, there is another system.. of calling forth the invisible image, and this..is known as the ‘alkaline development’. 1901Westm. Gaz. 23 Feb. 8/1 He planned and built a mammoth camera to secure on a single plate a picture 4½ ft. by 8 ft., three times as large as the largest plate ever before exposed.
d. The number plate of a motor vehicle. Chiefly in pl.
1950J. D. MacDonald Brass Cupcake (1955) iii. 23 She's got a grey Chevvy business coupé with Massachusetts plates. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 27/4 (Advt.), 2 door sedan, 3 cylinder, 2 cycle. Not certified, no plates. 1973R. Lewis Blood Money vi. 67 That car..ended in some garage with a bent mechanic stripping it, respraying it, changing the plates. 1975Drive New Year 98/1 Secondhand plates are not expensive but they can be difficult to obtain.
6. a. A polished sheet of copper or steel engraved to print from; hence b. an impression from this; an engraving. Also short for book-plate.
1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. §100 All..of these Inventions..shall be printed by Brass-plates. 1663–[see copper-plate 2, 3]. 1681Ray Corr. (1848) 130 To imitate Dr. Plukenet,..and thrust many species into a plate. 1762H. Walpole Catal. Engravers, List Vertue's Wks. (1765) 19 Plate to put in lady Oxford's books. 1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. xi. (ed. 3) 70 An artist will sometimes exhaust the labour of one or two years upon engraving a plate. 1863Lyell Antiq. Man ii. 19 A series of most instructive memoirs, illustrated with well-executed plates, of the treasures in stone, bronze and bone. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. ix. (1878) 146, I am sorry to find that one of the plates is missing from my copy. 1880Warren Book-plates i. 4 Some plates possess interest for their heraldry alone, some for their topography.
c. A stereotype or electrotype cast of a page of composed movable types, from which the sheets are printed.
1824J. Johnson Typogr. II. xxii. 657 All the plates of the Bible and Common Prayer were sent to the Chiswell Street Foundry, and there melted down. Ibid. 659 Stereotype plates must always be done at iron presses, on account of the vast power required to bring them off. 1839Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XVIII. 565/1 The plates of the Encyclopædia Britannica,..the most extensive work ever stereotyped. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Plate, a page of type, stereotype, or electrotype, for printing.
7. Arch. A horizontal timber at the top or bottom of a framing; often supporting other portions of a structure. Usually with defining word, as ground plate, roof plate, wall plate, window plate.
1449in Calr. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1830) II. Pref. 54 The platez of þe same hous shullen be in brede x inchis and in thiknes viij inches. Ibid. 55 To all the which hous..Thomas shall fynde plates, postes, punchons, somers, byndynges, gistes, gurdynges. 1663Gerbier Counsel 72 Rafters ten and seven inches,..Plates the same. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 163 Plate, a piece of Timber upon which some considerable weight is framed... Hence Ground-Plate,..Window-plate, &c. 1729Desaguliers in Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 199, AT, the upper Piece of the Crane, is an horizontal Situation, call'd the Plate of the Crane. 1731–3Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Stoves, Upon the Top of this Brick-work in Front must be laid the Plate of Timber, into which the Wood-work of the Frame is to be fasten'd. 1901J. Black's Illustr. Carp. & Build., Home Handicr. 68 The plate is regarded as the weakest part of a greenhouse, as it is so situated as to be almost constantly moist or alternately wet and dry. Never should a plate be left with its upper surface flat.
8. A wheel-track consisting of a flat strip of iron or steel with a projecting flange to retain the wheels, on which colliery trams are run: an early form of railroad; also plate-rail. Locally retained for a rail on an ordinary railway: cf. plate-layer.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 644 Bars of cast iron..known..by the denomination of the plate-rail, tram⁓way plate, barrow-way plate... The first we shall distinguish by the name of the edge railway; the second, by that of the plate railway. 1887P. McNeill Blawearie 41 Pringle..had made his way off at the far side of the cage, crossed the plates, leapt from the embankment over into the field. 1894Northumb. Gloss., Plates, sometimes called tram⁓plates, the rails on which colliery trams are run. The rails used on our railway lines are still known by the workmen as plates.
9. A light shoe worn by race-horses when racing.
1836Spirit of Times 20 Feb. 6/2 Having the misfortune to break the plate on her left hind foot on one side,..she was withdrawn after the first heat. 1840–70D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports (ed. 3) §1238 Racing plates for the feet [of horses] are of two kinds, the full and the three-quarter... The plate must not be put on nearer the end of the horse's heels than there is sound horn for it to rest upon. 1937E. Rickman On & off Racecourse vi. 130 If a horse is to be relieved of the considerable weight of these shoes, during a race they must be replaced by light plates made of aluminium or other suitable alloy. 1965D. Francis Odds Against viii. 119 Horses race in thin light shoes called plates... Blacksmiths change them before and after, every time a horse runs.
†10. A confection or sweetmeat made in a flat cake. Obs.
1355–6Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 555 Una libr. de plate, pr. iiij s. ij d. c1440Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 455 And then take sugre plate or gynger plate, or paste royale. a1483Ibid. 81 In the makinge of confections, plates, gardequinces. Ibid., Plaates. 1533in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 537/4 Comfits..1 box of plate /7.
11. Mining. Shale, thin slaty rock: see quots.
1794W. Hutchinson Hist. Cumbld. I. 48 Strata of plate between the coal. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Plate, shale. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 748 It is rare in the rock called plate (a solid slaty clay) for the [lead] vein to include any ore. 1859–65Page Geol. Terms, Plate, a north of England mining term for compact beds of shale, which, when exposed to the weather, break up into thin plates or laminæ. 1895J. W. Anderson Prospector's Handbk. (ed. 6) 163 Plate—Black shale; a slaty rock.
12. The thin part of the breast or brisket of beef; also plate-rand. Cf. rand n.1 2.
1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Plate-rand, the flat ribs of beef. 1884G. P. Keese in Harper's Mag. July 299/1 [Chicago] Plates are cut into five pieces. Ibid., The division [of the carcasses] is made into..loins, ribs, mess, plates, chucks, rolls, rumps [etc.]... ‘Extra mess’ is composed of chucks, plates, rumps, and flanks.
13. Baseball and Softball. A flat piece of metal or stone marking the home base; the home base itself. Also fig.
[1857Spirit of Times 28 Feb. 420/3 The home base and pitcher's point to be each marked by a flat circular iron plate, painted or enamelled white.] 1867Ball Players' Chron. 5 Sept. 5/1 Thorne..pitched slow, ‘drop’ balls, many of which struck outside of ‘the plate’. 1886H. Chadwick Art of Pitching & Fielding 43 When the Umpire indicates the height of the ball required, the pitcher should send it in at once at the height required, but not over ‘the plate’. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 161/2 This corner is marked by a white plate a foot square, sunk level with the ground, and called the home base. 1917C. Mathewson Sec. Base Sloan 172 Ellis walked to the plate and faced Chase grimly determined to get a hit. 1931D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) x. 224 Jo-jo squares away at the plate. 1936N.Y. Herald Tribune 4 Oct. ii. 2/1 The Democrats have scored in their half of the last inning, but the Republicans still have a chance to bat. Alfred E. Smith has just come up to the plate for them. 1952B. Malamud Natural (1963) 70 When Roy came up with Wonderboy, he hugged the plate too close to suit Fowler who was in there anyway only to help the batters find their timing. 1967C. Potok Chosen i. 16, I went up to home plate for some batting practice. 1973C. Sagan Cosmic Connection xv. 112 If he swings and misses—or, more likely, if the ball is wide of the plate—he can then go home for a two-hour nap, returning with his catcher's mitt to catch the ball. 1977Guernsey Weekly Press 21 July 8/6 Rangers pushed five runs over the plate before going one down, but errors..were mainly responsible.
II. A thin piece of silver or gold; silver or gold utensils.
†14. A piece of (silver) money, a silver coin: usually in full plate of silver, silvern plate; spec. from 16th c. the Spanish coin real de plata, the eighth part of a piastre or Spanish dollar. Obs.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 2370 Fif weden best bar beniamin, ðre hundred plates of siluer fin. a1300Judas in Rel. Ant. I. 144 Judas,..thritti platen of selver thou bere upo thi rugge. 1382Wyclif Jer. xxxii. 9 Ten siluerne platys. ― Matt. xxvi. 15 Thei ordeyneden to hym thritti platis of seluer. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 50 His lyneng derk, there were no platis bright, Only for lak of plate and of coyngnage. 1526Tindale Matt. xxvii. 3, xxx plattes of silver. Ibid. 9 They toke the xxx silver plates. c1592Marlowe Jew of Malta ii. ii, And if he has, he is worth three hundred plates. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 92 Realms & Islands were As plates dropt from his pocket.
15. a. Precious metal; bullion: from 16th c. usually silver, after Sp. plata. Now only Hist.
a1400–50Alexander 3673 All pargeste of plate, as pure as þe noble. c1430[see prec. sense]. 1559Morwyng Evonym. 78 Some vse..a pipe of white plate or other metall, very longe, writhen into many boughtes and tourninges. 1621G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ii. (1626) 219 Assumed viands straight Betweene his greedie teeth conuert to plate. 1671tr. Palafox's Conq. China xxxii. 567 The buttons are ordinary of Plate, either Silver or Gold. 1702Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) V. 185 The Spanish governours..are resolved not to suffer any plate to be brought thence to Europe. 1740tr. Barba's Metals, Mines & Min. 59 And find Abundance of Plate in them, which can be attributed to nothing but to the perpetual Generation of Silver.
†b. Standard of value of Spanish silver coins, as in old plate, new plate, etc. Obs.
1676Lady A. Fanshawe Mem. (1830) 215, 8550 ducats, plate, which is about {pstlg}2000 pounds sterling. 1748Earthquake of Peru i. 30 Thirteen Chests of Ryals of Plate. 1788Rees Chambers' Cycl. s.v. Coins, Maravedis of Madrid, etc., new plate... Maravedis of Barcelona, etc., old plate. 1811P. Kelly Cambist II. 188 Silver coins..Spain..Real of Mexican Plate (1775)..61/4 d... Real of new plate (1795)..5 d.
c. See quot. 1746. (Cf. bullion4 2.)
1746Miles in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 161 Instead of common Thread, I used Silver and Gold Twist, or what, I think, the Ladies call Plate. 1880L. Higgin Handbk. Embroidery i. 9 Plate consists of narrow plates of gold or silver stitched on to the embroidery by threads of silk. 1881C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork i. 54 Bullion, passing, plate and spangles are employed in silk embroidery.
16. collect. sing. Utensils for table and domestic use, ornaments, etc.:
a. originally of silver or gold.
c1400Destr. Troy 9504 Bassons full brode, & other bright vessell; Pesis of plates plentius mekyll. 1454Rolls of Parlt. V. 255/2 To ley in plege all my grete Jowellys, and the most partie of my Plate. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. i. xxi. 67 A grete quantyte of plate bothe of golde and of syluere. 1530Palsgr. 255/2 Plate sylver vessel, uaysselle dargent. 1583Rates of Customs D vij b, Plate gilt the vnce vs. Plate parcel gilt y⊇ vnce iiijs. vid. Plate white the vnce iiijs. 1600Holland Livy xxxiv. lii. 882 Many vessels of plate of all sorts, and most engrauen. 1662Pepys Diary 27 Apr., A salt-cellar of silver,..one of the neatest pieces of plate that ever I saw. 1711Addison Spect. No. 15 ⁋4 Whether they keep their Coach and six, or eat in Plate. 1773Lond. Chron. 7 Sept. 248/3 Sacramental plate. 1846Landor Imag. Conv., Southey & Landor Wks. 1853 II. 73/1 The rich cupboards of embossed plate. 1885Law Times LXXIX. 175/1 A service of plate bequeathed by a baronet to devolve with his baronetcy.
b. Extended to plated ware, and to other kinds of metal: usually with distinctive additions, as pewter plate, British plate, electro-plate, etc.
1545Rates of Customs c ij b, Plate white or blacke double or syngle hundreth pounde, xs. 1662R. Mathew Unl. Alch. §89 Take a large Funnel of Crooked-lane plate, or of thin Brass. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. v. i, The silver ore of pure charity is an expensive article..; the sentimental French plate..makes just as good a show, and pays no tax. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 Round the apartment..was displayed..silver and pewter plate. 1889Besant Bell St. Paul's III. 263 Spoons and forks of real silver, not trumpery plate.
†c. Table-ware; plates (see 19), dishes, etc. Obs.
1623Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Pref. §4 And who but would earnestly desire that cleere and hammerable glasse of old, for plate and other utensils. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 30 Their Tables, which are strewed liberally with Dainties served up in Plate of China.
d. As a non-collective n.: A thin coating of metal, esp. one applied electrolytically.
1915Chem. News 10 Dec. 288/1 Plates on various stock pieces satisfactorily withstood the various bending, hammering, and burnishing tests. 1946Trans. Electrochem. Soc. LXXXIX. 384 The nickel-cobalt plate is whiter, harder and more corrosion-resistant than nickel deposits. 1959T. M. Rogers Hand-bk. Pract. Electroplating 14 The work is..given a thin plate of Rochelle copper. 1974P. D. Groves Electrochem. xii. 92 A mixture of nickel (11) sulphate and nickel (11) chloride together with a boric acid buffer and a wetting agent..produces a good plate which resists wear and abrasion, even at high temperatures.
17. Her. A roundel representing a flat piece of silver with a plain surface; a roundel argent.
1562Leigh Armorie 150 These are called plates, because they are of Siluer, and haue no simylitude on them, but plaine round, as though they were shaped to y⊇ coygne. 1592W. Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos 87 In cheefe three plats of siluer standen plaine. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Balls or Bullets..are never called so in Heraldry, but according to their several Colours have the following Names; Besants, when the Colour is Or. Plates, when 'tis Argent [etc.]. 1882Cussans Her. iv. (ed. 3) 74 The Bezant, Plate, and Fountain are always to be represented flat.
18. Originally, in Horse-racing, a prize consisting of a silver or gold cup or the like given to the winner of a race; now extended to prizes in other contests; loosely, a contest in which the prize is a plate. Also fig.
selling plate, a horse-race the condition of entry to which is that the winner must be sold at a price previously fixed.
1639R. Verney Let. in F. P. Verney Memoirs (1892) I. viii. 185 ‘My Lord Carlile's white nagg,’ says Ralph, ‘hath beaten Dandy, and Sprat woone the cup, and Cricket the plate.’ 1675Lond. Gaz. No. 1012/4 The Plate at Rowell Slade, in the County of Northampton, will be continued on the first Thursday of September, and will be worth about Forty pound. 1698Bodl. Charters, Norfolk No. 533, Article 14 Every owner of any horse that starteth for this plate shall be obliged to sell such horse..for thirty Guineys, the Contributers present shall throw dice who shall be the Purchaser. 1713Steele Guard. No. 6 ⁋5 Not to be particular, he puts in for the Queen's plate every year. 1725Newcastle Courant 28 Aug., The Lady's Plate of fifteen pounds' value by any horse, &c. Women to be the riders: each to pay one guinea entrance, three heats. 1758Johnson Idler No. 62 ⁋10, I had a chesnut horse..who won four plates. 1888Times 26 June 4/5 He said Success was a good horse for a selling plate. 1902Even. Standard 5 June, The Riddlesdown Plate of 200 sovs: winner to be sold for 200 sovs. 1910Encycl. Brit. XIII. 728/2 In 1739 an act was passed to prevent racing by ponies and weak horses,..which also prohibited prizes or plates of less value than {pstlg}50. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake (1964) i. 39 The classic Encourage Hackney Plate was captured by two noses in a stablecloth finish, ek and nek. 1955Times 5 Aug. 4/1 Magic Key may be favourite to open the card at Lewes in the selling race. He has been placed in his last three races, being unlucky enough to come up against horses above the average for selling plates. 1979K. Bonfiglioli After you with Pistol v. 22 A diet of beefsteak, oysters and Guinness would soon lift me out of the selling-plate class.
III. A shallow vessel.
19. a. A shallow, usually circular vessel, originally of metal or wood, now commonly of earthenware or china, from which food is eaten. Often with preceding word noting special use or purpose, as dessert-plate, dinner-plate, fruit-plate, soup-plate. Also in colloq. phrases: to hand (something to someone) on a plate and varr.: to give (something to someone) without his asking or seeking or without requiring any effort or return from him; to present in ready-to-use form; to have a lot (enough, etc.) on one's plate: to have a lot (enough, etc.) to worry about or cope with.
a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 11 She drowe oute of a donghille a plater of siluer..and there come a voys to her and saide, score so longe on this plate tille ye haue hadde awey alle the blacke spottis. 1485Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 51 Trayes..v, Plates of tree..iij dd. 1684Bucaniers Amer. iii. v. 47 The Pirats,..without any..Napkins, or Plates, fell to eating very heartily the..pieces of Bulls and Horses Flesh. 1697Dryden æneid vii. 159 Ascanius this observ'd, and, smiling, said, See, we devour the plates on which we fed. 1700R. Sinclair in Leisure Ho. (1883) 205/2 Putre plats and trenchers. 1853Mrs. Gaskell Cranford (1892) 61 Miss Pole..left them on one side of her plate untasted. 1894Cassell's Univ. Cookery Bk. 1255 One [rack] to hold a dozen plates and three dishes. 1922Joyce Ulysses 135 Gave it to them on a hot plate, Myles Crawford said, the whole bloody history. 1928Daily Express 4 July 9/2 Can you tell me how many times in all she has forbidden you the house?—No, sir. Half a dozen times?—It might have been. I cannot say. I have a lot on my plate... Mr. Justice Horridge: A lot on your plate! What do you mean? Elton Pace: A lot of worry, my lord. 1935Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves ii. 27 He can't get action when he's handed the thing on a plate. 1945Penguin New Writing XXIV. 32 We haven't time to worry about D though, we shall probably have enough on our own plate any minute now. 1946R. G. Collingwood Idea of Hist. 256 If anyone else..hands him on a plate a ready-made answer to his question, all he can do is to reject it. 1957Listener 11 July 72 It is not often that radio is presented on a plate with such a fine natural script as these extracts made. 1959‘R. Simons’ Houseboat Killings xiv. 142 I'll leave you at it. I've got plenty on my plate at the moment. 1960L. Cooper Accomplices i. vi. 67 That was an easy one—Steyne had handed it to us on a plate. 1963T. Parker Unknown Citizen iii. 78 Duggie's got a lot on his plate just now, I didn't want to worry him. 1970Manch. Guardian Weekly 11 July 4 If New Zealand has the EEC door slammed in her face..car factories of Japan..would have a new market handed to them on a plate. 1973‘P. Malloch’ Kickback xii. 78 You make that kind of mistake you're handing it on a plate to the cops. Ibid. xxiii. 145 The police..[have] got enough on their plate. We pull our job tomorrow while they're trying to tidy up their own mess.
b. transf. That which is placed on a plate; spec. † (a) a supply of food; eating and drinking (obs.); (b) a dish or course.
1577Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 634 That scho haif..siclyke assignatioun of money and victuallis for the support of hir plate as of befoir. 1686tr. Chardin's Coronat. Solyman 82, I may be able to entertain him with a Plate of Pelo. 1745Pococke Descr. East II. i. 11 The European pilgrims..are well served with three or four plates. 1886Kipling Departm. Ditties (ed. 2) 13 Who can raise a two-plate dinner off eight paltry ‘dibs’ a day? a1907Mod. They shared a plate of strawberries. 1971‘D. Shannon’ Ringer (1972) viii. 138 ‘Oh—the low⁓calorie plate,’ as the waiter came up. 1972J. Wambaugh Blue Knight (1973) i. 19, I promised to come back Friday for the De luxe Businessman's Plate. 1974D. E. Westlake Help (1975) xlii. 246 The man..recommended the roast beef plate..and the woman..said the turkey diet plate was first-rate.
c. A similar vessel of metal or wood used for taking the collection at places of worship, etc.
1779Johnson Prayers & Medit. 4 Apr., I gave two shillings to the plate. 1837McKerrow H. Belfrage i. 3 note, A plate or collection-box is placed at the entry to the place of worship, to receive the voluntary offerings of the people. 1872Besant & Rice Ready Money Mort. xi, The plate came round, and caught him unprepared.
d. plates of meat: feet; freq. ellipt. as plates; † plate of meat: a street (obs.). Rhyming slang.
1857‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 15 Plate of meat,..street. 1887Referee 6 Nov. 7/3 As she walked along the street With her little ‘plates of meat’. 1889J. S. Farmer Americanisms 425/2 Plate of meat (Cant),..in America does duty as the name, among thieves, for a street or highway. a1896A. R. Marshall in Farmer & Henley Slang (1902) V. 224/2 He is rocky on his plates, for he has forced them into ‘sevens’. 1898J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 85 If a peeler heaves in sight..they'll..take a rise out of 'im with a chorus of ‘Boots!’ alluding to his ‘plates o' meat’, as they calls 'em. 1917W. Muir Observations of Orderly xiv. 222 To get your ‘plates of meat’ frostbitten wasn't such a ‘cushy wound’ as it was cracked up to be. 1948C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident ii. 17 ‘Your clodhopping feet.’ ‘Plates of meat,’ murmured Dick Cozzens, who is an expert in slang. 1951P. Branch Lion in Cellar ix. 105 He..took off his shoes. ‘Heaven!’ he sighed. ‘My plates have been quite, quite killing me.’ 1975P. G. Winslow Death of Angel xii. 229 Gawd, I wore out my plates of meat.
e. Biol. and Med. A shallow vessel, usu. a Petri dish, used to contain a medium for the cultivation of micro-organisms; freq. used inclusively of this medium.
1886E. M. Crookshank Introd. Pract. Bacteriol. v. 68 The glass plates are sterilised by filling the iron box..and placing it in the hot-air steriliser, at 150° C., from one to two hours. 1896G. M. Sternberg Text-Bk. Bacteriol. viii. 72 By Koch's famous ‘plate method’ we obtain colonies of any particular microörganism which we desire to study. 1934A. T. Henrici Biol. Bacteria xii. 203 The colonies which develop upon agar or gelatine plates exhibit specific characters by which one may often identify the organism of which they are composed. 1973R. G. Krueger et al. Introd. Microbiol. xiv. 388/2 On mixed indicator plates phages that are wild type for the host range character (h+) form turbid plaques because they can only lyse one of the two kinds of bacteria in the mixture, whereas the h mutants, since they lyse both kinds of bacteria equally well, form clear plaques.
f. U.S. A place at a formal meal or banquet, for which one subscribes.
1925L. S. Dunway in B. A. Botkin Treas. S. Folklore (1949) ii. iii. 278 The committee on arrangements called on Jeff Davis at his office and wanted to know if the governor would like to have a plate at the banquet, the cost of which was $5. 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xii. 288 They gave Sidney a testimonial dinner at the Ambassador at ten dollars a plate. 1964Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 9 Apr. (1970) 105 The luncheon took place before an audience of twenty-eight hundred, who had paid $12·50 a plate. 1974News & Reporter (Chester, S. Carolina) 24 Apr. 8-a/1 Tickets, priced at $3.50 per plate, are on sale with any members of the sponsoring Chester Girls Club and the Diversity Study Club.
g. U.S. slang. A gramophone record.
1935Vanity Fair (U.S.) Nov. 38/1 None of these plates will be senders. 1937Amer. Speech XII. 100 Behind the microphone they [sc. gramophone records] are referred to variously as discs, E.T.'s, plates, platters, wax and cuts. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang. §581/2 Phonograph record,..plate.
h. N.Z. and Austral. A plate of cakes, sandwiches, or the like contributed by a participant towards the catering at a social gathering.
1953M. Scott Breakfast at Six viii. 70 Gents half-a-crown, ladies a plate... Larry explained what ‘a plate’ meant in the backblocks. 1962S. Gore Down Golden Mile 110 We might start by having some sort of social. Nothing elaborate, you know. Just perhaps all the ladies could bring a plate. 1966G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Austral. & N.Z. iii. 48 Newcomers to New Zealand country districts have been embarrassed by a failure to detect this semantic development [sc. metonymy] in the advertisements for country dances, used to ensure that the right amount of supper will be provided and the hire of the hall paid—‘Gents 2/-—Ladies a plate’. Since New Zealand countrywomen are renowned for their cooking of fancy cakes, an empty plate shows up rather poorly.
IV. attrib. and in Comb.
20. a. attributive (in various senses), as plate armour, plate-book, plate-box, plate-brass, plate-brush, plate-bush, plate-chest, plate-closet, plate-copper, plate-dish, plate-frame, plate furnace, plate-glove, plate-guide, plate-hoe, plate-iron, plate-jack (jack n.2), plate-pile, plate-rand (see 12), plate-sleeve, plate washer, plate work, plate worth; (sense 1 e) plate boundary; (sense 4 j) plate circuit, plate current, plate voltage; (sense 13) plate umpire.
1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) I. 127 The body of the Armadillo is covered with a kind of *plate armour. 1874Boutell Arms & Arm. x. 188 Armour worn in England since the Norman conquest..1. First—Mail Armour... 2. Second—Mixed Mail and Plate Armour: from about 1300 to about 1410. 3. Third—Plate Armour: from about 1410 to about 1600.
1971I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth xix. 263/1 We distinguish between a *plate boundary, the surface trace of the zone of motion between two plates, and a plate margin, the marginal part of a particular plate. 1979C. Kilian Icequake v. 70 It looks now as if the ice sheet put a strain..on a series of faults on the far side of the Queen Maud Range. Tim and I are pretty sure the faults mark the edge of a plate boundary.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xii. ⁋6 A piece of *Plate-Brass. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Plate-brass, rolled brass. Latten.
1868Joynson Metals 120 Apply this..with a soft *plate-brush.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm III. 927 A journal, which has its bearing in a close brass *plate-bush or socket.
1849E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 173 When one is a mere depositary—a sort of animated *plate-chest.
1919J. A. Fleming Thermionic Valve 224 In general the external E.M.F. required in the *plate circuit of a very hard valve is 100 volts, or even more, to produce a plate current of 3 or 4 milliamperes with the grid at zero potential. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia VI. 688/1 Many of these secondary electrons are attracted to the screen grid and flow in its circuit, rather than in the plate circuit, where the output should flow for greatest circuit efficiency.
1900Spectator 22 Dec. 923/2, I do intend to have my cellar and my *plate-closet put under proper rules.
1766Sharp in Phil. Trans. LVII. 87 Wood, and *plate-copper.
1915Electrician 21 May 243/1 (diagram) *Plate current. 1966T. Korneff Introd. Electronics vi. 198 The plate current is a function of the screen grid voltage and does not depend too much on the plate voltage.
1624Heywood Gunaik. vii. 331 A Basin and Ewre with other *Plate-dishes.
1861Fairbairn Iron 48 This *plate furnace in not only perfectly secure, as regards the expansion and contraction, but it is found to be economical and to answer every purpose in common with the large stone and iron-bound furnaces.
a1598Rollock Lect. 2 Thess. (1606) 128 He wil get on a croslet and *plateglufe.
1890Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 176 In the diagram, the heavy lines show the cut in lower board,..the light lines the upper board or *plate-guide aperture.
1881Whitehead Hops 46 This space is hoed with an ordinary *plate-hoe to remove the weeds.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 3 Used when the work is..flat, and generally for all *Plate Iron. 1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. x. 6 Carried on cross girders between pairs of plate-iron girders.
c1720Bewick & Graham xxii. in Child Ballads vii. (1890) 147/1 He put on his back a good *plate-jack, And on his head a cap of steel. 1802Scott Eve St. John iii, His plate-jack was braced, and his helmet was laced.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. ii. 80/2 Into these grooves large plates of iron, which the engineer calls *plate-piles, are fitted and driven down.
1578–9Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 107 They..spuilyeit him of his jak, *plaitslevis, his pistolet, his belt [etc.]. 1624Burgh Rec. Peebles (Rec. Soc.) 364 Ordanis to haue ane lans, ane steill bonnet and ane pair of pletsleuis and ane hagbuit.
1967Boston Herald 1 Apr. 17/4 The area around home plate was especially soft and with two sinker ball pitchers working, *plate umpire Larry Nap had a terrible time.
1922Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 1027/2 The *plate voltage of the oscillating valve is not supplied by a high voltage battery but at most by a few cells. 1966Plate voltage [see plate current above].
1874Thearle Nav. Archit. 134 A hexagonal *plate washer.
a1400–50Alexander 3223 Polischid all of pure gold & of *plate werkis.
1654Whitlock Zootomia 355 This Touchstone of solid and *plate worth (as I may tearm it).
b. Objective, instrumental, similative, etc., as plate-bender, plate-keeper, plate-lifter, plate-roller, plate-warmer; plate-collecting, plate-glazing, plate-making, plate-printing, plate-tossing; plate-bending, plate-buttoned, plate-cutting, plate-encased, plate-formed, plate-glazed, plate-like, plate-rolling, plate-shaped adjs.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Plate Bender, a round bitted pincers, for bending dental plates without showing the pinch marks.
1875Ibid. 1737/1 *Plate-bending Machine, a machine for bending plates of metal to any required curve for boilers, water-wheel buckets, etc.
1727Somerville Bowling-Green Poems 68 Attorneys spruce, in their *Plate-button'd Frocks.
1898Westm. Gaz. 19 Apr. 10/1 The earliest reference to *plate collecting dates from 1835, when the Rev. Daniel Parsons wrote a short article on book-plates.
1861Fairbairn Iron 117 At the Paris Universal Exhibition..a *plate-cutting machine was exhibited.
1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xxiv. (1858) 526, I could find in our recent fishes..no such *plate-encased animals as the various species of Coccosteus or Pterichthys.
1597A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. c j b/1 A *Plate-formed Cauterye, to cauterize the bone and the fleshe, and the whole parte.
1915J. Southward Mod. Printing (ed. 3) II. xxx. 258 *Plate-glazed Paper is finished by being placed sheet by sheet between copper or zinc plates... The pile is pressed through powerful rollers.
1911Encycl. Brit. XX. 734/2 The *plate-glazing process is adopted mainly for the best grades of writing-papers, as it gives a smoother, higher and more permanent gloss than has yet been imitated by the roll-calender. 1962F. T. Day Introd. Paper iv. 47 Plate glazing is carried out by passing the paper between zinc plates and pressing it to give the desired finish.
1888Pall Mall G. 24 Apr. 1/2 His employment was one of great trust, he being the *platekeeper of the Guards' mess at St. James's Palace.
1862G. P. Scrope Volcanos 139 Thin *plate-like crystals of felspar. 1901Westm. Gaz. 28 Feb. 3/2 The other very low and broad plate-like hats of the Louis Quinze and Louis Seize periods.
1939R. R. Karch Printing & Allied Trades (ed. 2) xviii. 180 (heading) Offset *Plate Making. 1967E. Chambers Photolitho-Offset iii. 31 A good reproduction proof..becomes copy and is photographed in the normal way for plate-making.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 706 The shingling and *plate-rolling mill.
1837Thackeray Ravenswing vii, Under the sideboard stands..a..*plate-warmer. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Plate-warmer, a small cupboard standing in front of a fire and holding plates to warm.
21. Special Combinations: plate-basket, (a) a baize-lined basket in which silver spoons, forks, etc. are kept; (b) a metal-lined basket for removing plates and the like which have been used at table; plate-black: see quot.; plate-bolt, (a) a bolt which slides on a flat plate; (b) a bolt having a wide flat head; plate-bone, (a) ? cf. buckler n.2 3; (b) the shoulder-blade; plate-bulb, a thickened edge in an iron plate, having a cross-section of mushroom form; plate camera, a camera designed to take photographs on coated glass plates rather than film; plate-clutch, a form of clutch in which the engaging surfaces are flat metal plates; † plate-coat, a coat of mail of plate; plate count, an estimate of cell density in milk, soil, etc., made by inoculating a plate (sense 19 e) with a suitably diluted sample and counting the number of colonies that appear; plate-cultivation, -culture (of micro-organisms): see quot. 1895; plate cylinder, in a rotary printing press, the cylinder to which printing plates are attached; plate-day, the day of the race for a plate; plate electrical machine: see plate machine (a); plate-gauge, a gauge consisting of a plate with edges notched in progressive order, for measuring the thickness of metal plates; plate girder, a girder formed of a plate or plates of iron or steel; plate-hat, a hat having a nap of finer material than the body (Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1886); plate-holder Photogr., a frame impervious to light in which sensitized plates are contained; plate-horse = plater 3; plate-kiln, a form of malt-kiln; plate-knee, a metal knee consisting of two flat plates giving an extended surface for the bolts; † plate-lace, silver or gold lace: cf. sense 15 c; plate-lap Shipbuild., the overlapping of the plates covering the sides of a ship; plate-lead: see platine, quot. 1797; plate-leather, wash-leather for rubbing and polishing silver plate, etc.; plate-line = plate-mark 2; plate-lock, a lock having the outer case of wood, commonly used on outside doors; also, a lock in which the works are pivoted on an iron plate; plate machine, (a) a machine for producing electricity, in which a cushion rubs against a revolving plate of glass; (b) a variation of the potter's wheel adapted for making table-ware, plates, dishes, etc.; plate-matter, stereotype matter for newspapers such as is sometimes supplied from a central establishment to local journals; plate metal, (a) see quot. 1861; (b) = plate pewter; plate mill, a rolling mill for metal plates; plate mundic, plate-nail, plate-of-wind (in an organ): see quots.; plate-painter, one who paints decorative designs on china, etc.; plate-paper, paper of fine quality on which engravings are printed; plate pewter, the hardest variety of pewter, used for plates and dishes; plate pie (see quot. 1946); plate-piece of eight = piece of eight (see sense 14, and piece n. 13 c); plate-powder, a polishing powder for silver plate and silver ware generally; plate-printer, a workman who prints from plates; plate-rack, a rack or frame in which plates are placed to drain, or in which they are usually kept; (on board ship) a closed cupboard in which plates are kept; also, a grooved frame for draining photographic plates; plate-rail = 8; so plate-railway; plate-rock, plate-shale Mining = 11; plate-roll, a smooth roller for rolling metal plate or sheet; plate-room, (a) a room for keeping plate (sense 16); (b) = plate-safe; plate-safe (see quot.); plate-shears, strong hand-shears for cutting sheets of metal; also, a powerful machine for cutting boiler- or armour-plates, etc.; plate-ship, a vessel carrying silver, a ship of the plate fleet; plate-shy a. Baseball (see quots.); † plate silver = silver plate; plate tectonics Geol., a theory of the earth's surface based on the concepts of moving plates (plate n. 1 e) and sea-floor spreading, used to explain the distribution of earthquakes, mid-ocean ridges, deep-sea trenches, and orogenic belts; hence plate-tectonic a., plate tectonicist; plate tracery Arch.: see quots.; plate-way, a plate-railway; plate-wheel, a wheel in which the hub is connected with the rim by a plate, instead of by spokes; plate-worker, † (a) one who works in gold or silver (obs.); (b) a worker in sheet-metal. Also plate fleet, plate-glass, plate-layer, etc.
1838Dickens O. Twist xxviii, I..seized the loaded pistol that always goes up-stairs with the *plate-basket. 1870M. Bridgman Rob. Lynne I. xiii. 220, I shouldn't care to leave any of them alone with my plate-basket.
1889Cent. Dict. s.v. Black, *Plate-black, a combination of lampblack and bone-black..used in plate-printing.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 33 *Plate, and Spring-bolts..to fasten Doors and Windows. 1839Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XIX. 290/2 One of the most perfect securities for a beam-end..is the plate⁓bolt... The extreme end of the beam is tied downward by bolts.
a1648Digby Closet Open. (1677) 126 Take any bones..as the Ribs, the Chine bones, the buckler *Plate-bone. 1693Phil. Trans. XVII. 975 The lateral Fins..being excarnated, are like the whole Arm, with a Plate-bone, Shoulder-bone.
1874Thearle Naval Archit. 110 This method is also sometimes employed in forming the arms of *plate bulb beams, but in this case the end of the beam must be heated and cut, and the lower part bent.
1937Discovery June 177/2 Really good second-hand *plate-cameras can be bought quite cheaply. 1956Focal Encycl. Photogr. 868/1 Plate cameras are generally larger than film cameras. 1977Times 31 Aug. 10/4 A man peering through a large plate camera at them.
1906*Plate clutch [see disc-clutch s.v. disc n. 8 f]. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 5 Jan. 95/2 Power..is transmitted via an independent plate-clutch.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. ii. 277 b, An helmet & a Jacke or *platecote hideth all partes of a manne sauyng the legges. 1677Lovers Quarrel 278 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 264 Thou'st have the horse with all my heart, And my Plate Coat of silver free.
1901Jrnl. Hygiene I. 301 The effect of the ice-packing upon the number of colonies appearing in the ordinary *plate count has been already discussed. 1928Jrnl. Bacteriol. XVI. 270 The manner of making plate counts which prevails in public-health and other laboratories where daily counts are made on a number of samples of milk. 1956Nature 4 Feb. 221/1 The time of soaking and shaking the leaves before plating influenced the plate-count. 1972Ann. Rep. Freshwater Biol. Assoc. XL. 41 Bacterial numbers as shown by plate counts.
1886Klein Microorganisms & Disease (ed. 3) 41 One of the best methods for isolation is that of *plate cultivation introduced by Koch [1883] in connection with the choleraic comma bacilli. 1895Syd. Soc. Lex., Plate-cultivation, Plate-culture, term for the method of cultivating micro⁓organisms in nutrient media spread out on glass plates... The term is also used for the colonies thus grown.
1886Biggs tr. Hueppe's Methods of Bacteriol. Investig. 140 An enormous number of germs can in this way be certainly separated from one another in a single *plate culture. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 900, 6799 colonies developed in a plate culture by the end of two days.
1932Place & Clunes in W. Atkins Art & Practice of Printing II. xi. 192 The *plate-Cylinder is made to carry the curved plates; plate-Cylinders have to be very accurately ground. 1973J. Moran Printing Presses xiii. 198 It [sc. the plate] was then placed in a bending box, where it received the appropriate curvature to enable it to lie on the plate cylinder.
1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4000/4 Galloways..to be kept in Ipswich..till the *Plate⁓day.
1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 25 The *Plate Electrical Machine..consists of a circular plate of thick glass, revolving vertically by means of a winch between two uprights [etc.].
1849W. Fairburn Acct. Construction Britannia & Conway Tubular Bridges i. 176 Is there anything new in this application of wrought-iron *plate girders? 1891Notes Building Construction iv. viii. 154 The web of a plate girder being very thin can bear but a very small part of the direct stresses. 1950Engineering 8 Dec. 465/3 Mr. Dean, in his report on metal under-bridges, concluded that plate girders are the most economical and satisfactory form of construction for the main girders.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1738/2 Inside frames..are used within the *plate-holder for making small negatives. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 63/1 A waterproof carrier, which contained my camera-top, plate-holders and plates.
1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 158 He afterwards was a very capital *plate horse. 1851Nimrod Road 14 He had been a fair plate horse in his time.
1743Lond. & Country Brew. iii. (ed. 2) 173 The *Plate-Kiln, and the Tile-Kiln, which are full of small Holes, were invented to dry brown Malts, and to save Charges.
1839Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XIX. 290/2 Robert's *plate-knee is a very strong method of fastening [a beam-end to the side of a ship].
1600in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. (1823) III. 510 Garnished with buttons and loopes, of *plate lace of Venice silver.
1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 62 The *plate-laps, ribbands, stringers, and deck-beams.
1782Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) IX. 6711/1 The high-lisses, or lists, are a number of long threads, with platines, or *plate-leads, at the bottom. 1797[see platine].
1931A. Esdaile Student's Man. Bibliogr. v. 151 All intaglio engravings will show a ‘*plate-line’; the paper which is pressed by the plate is smooth and sunk, while beyond the edge of the plate it keeps its natural surface; the resulting line is called the plate-line. 1961T. Landau Encycl. Librarianship (ed. 2) 281/1 Plate line, a characteristic mark in intaglio printing, especially of engravings, due to the great pressure exerted by the engraving press on the paper.
1365–6in Archæol. (1857) XXXVII. 25 Stock-locks, *plate-locks,..clykett-locks. 1485Rec. St. Mary at Hill 29 Ther is, for the postern gate, a plate locke with a bolte, yryn, & ij keyes. Also v plate lockes with v cleket keyes. 1891N. & Q. 7th Ser. XI. 313/2 Plate lock is still the trade term in Wolverhampton and elsewhere for a stock lock, i.e., a lock of which the outer case is wood, usually oak.
1789Nicholson in Phil. Trans. LXXIX. 269 *Plate machines do not collect more electricity than cylinders..do with half the rubbed surface. 1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 83 Five turns of a two feet plate-machine..were sufficient to produce a bubble of gas on the negative point.
1887Z. L. White in Westm. Rev. CXXVIII. 862 This ‘*plate-matter’ became at once so popular with country publishers that new features were from time to time introduced... Today one of these ‘plate-matter’ manufacturing firms has branch offices and foundries in New York, Boston..Chicago..San Francisco... It furnishes matter for almost every department of a newspaper except editorial articles and local news.
1668–9in C. Welch Hist. Worshipful Co. Pewterers (1902) II. 140 It is..agreed..that..every person that taketh Hollow-ware of any workman & returneth not him for the same ½ *plate mettle and ½ London Trifles, shall pay unto such workman [etc.]. 1831J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 84 The quantity of plate metal put into the furnace at once varies, according to circumstances. 1861Fairbairn Iron 90 From the refinery the metal is run out into large moulds, and is then broken up into what is technically distinguished as ‘plate metal’.
1867Engineering 4 Jan. 1/2 In the reversing *plate mill at the London and North-Western Steel Works..the reversal of the motion of the rolls is effected by reversing the..engines. 1964Recent Progr. Metal Working ii. 39 Automatic control of a plate mill entails..control of gauge in the last cross⁓rolling and last finishing pass.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 126/1 Iron..mixed.. With arsenic; called mispickel by the Germans, and *plate mundic in Cornwall.
1851Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 39 *Plate Nails, used, in laying tramway, to nail the plates to the sleepers. 1894Northumb. Gloss. s.v., A plate-nail is driven through a hole in the plate, which is countersunk to receive the head of the nail.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Plate-of-wind, in the construction of organ-pipes, a thin aperture whence a sheet of air issues, impinging upon the lip of the mouth and receiving a vibration which is imparted to the column of air in the pipe.
1875W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 379 Do not Minton's *plate-painters enjoy the same freedom of invention as middle-age stone-carvers?
1879Print. Trades Jrnl. xxix. 6 Printed on superfine *plate-paper.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 952 The *plate pewter has a bright silvery lustre when polished. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXI. 339/1 Plate pewter (100 parts of tin, 8 of antimony, 4 of copper and 4 of bismuth).
1946F. M. McNeill Recipes from Scotland 13 A *plate-pie, i.e., with pastry above and below the filling. 1975Times 19 July 11/4 Rhubarb plate pie.
1673Temple Ess. Irel. Wks. 1731 I. 111 In 1663, when the *Plate-pieces of Eight were raised three Pence in the Piece.
1786J. Woodforde Diary 24 Apr. (1926) II. 241 For some *plate Powder at Chases pd 0. 1. 0. 1877J. H. Ewing in Aunt Judy's Mag. 146 The over-bearingness of the butler,..the inferior quality of the new plate-powder. 1883Chambers's Encycl. VII. 585/1 A plate-powder is..sometimes made by levigating quicksilver with twelve times its weight of prepared chalk [etc.]. 1976Century of Trade Marks (Patent Office) 44 There is no longer any general need for such things as plate powder, polishing paste and blacking.
1889Cent. Dict., *Plate-printer. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 414/2 Plate Printers' Union of United States, National Steel and Copper. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §529 Printer, plate, prints from copper or steel plates, on which design or lettering is sunk below surface of plate, instead of being raised as in letterpress work.
1807–8Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. v. Wks. 1859 II. 153/2 Making a gallant defence behind hedge-rows, and through *plate-racks and hencoops. 1862C. P. Smyth Three Cities in Russia II. 140 Furnished in the corners with towering plate-racks, holding a number of gold and silver dishes.
1825*Plate-rail, plate-railway [see sense 8]. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 982 The rails [in a coal-mine] are called tram-rails, or plate-rails, consisting of a plate from 3 to 4 inches broad, with an edge at right angles to it of about two inches and a half high.
1900A. Adderley in Speaker 29 Dec. 349/1 Much of the land being nothing but *plate rock.
1861W. Fairbairn Iron 111 The cylindrical part B, for *plate-rolls should be slightly concave. 1930Engineering 7 Nov. 579/2 (heading) Plate-roll finishing machine.
1888*Plate room [see plate-safe]. 1931N. & Q. 10 Oct. 262/2 The plate-room..is a strong steel and fireproof apartment.
1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 710/1 The *plate-safe or plate-room is the repository of the stereo and electro plates.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., *Plate-shale, a hard argillaceous bed.
1599A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 112/1 With a greate payre of *platesheares cut the same of such a longitude as you desire to have it. 1861Fairbairn Iron 116 Before the introduction of the plate shears, they were used to cut boiler plates.
1884Sat. Rev. 14 June 770/2 The Spanish Government also might..sell a concession to raise the *plate-ships sunk in Vigo Bay.
1912C. Mathewson Pitching iv. 90 For a long time, ‘Josh’ Devore, the Giant's left-fielder was ‘*plate shy’ with left-handers—that is, he stepped away. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §677/37 Plate-shy, afraid to stand close to the plate.
1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 20 [It] sticks to the surface of *plate silver and tarnishes it.
1972Sci. Amer. May 59/1 According to the *plate-tectonic view, continents and oceans are rafted along by the same crustal conveyor belt. 1976Nature 9 Sept. 118/1 In the plate tectonic model, the Himalaya is considered to be the classic example of a continent-continent collision system.
1973Ibid. 30 Nov. 263/1 They are in disagreement with the views of some *plate tectonicists who wish to have the whole 500 km shift take place after mid-Miocene.
[1966Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. LXXVII. 707 The folds and faults mapped at the surface [near the San Andreas fault] are attributed to raft tectonics whereby a passive surficial plate is deformed as it rides coupled to a moving under⁓mass. ]1969Sci. Jrnl. Aug. 40/2 *Plate tectonics..has shown its ability to predict, amongst other things, the direction of the movement accompanying earthquakes. 1972Observer (Colour Suppl.) 13 Feb. 12/1 During the past five years, there has been a revolution in the Earth Sciences, involving a theory called plate tectonics. 1976McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 314/1 The widespread acceptance by the earth sciences community of plate tectonics has had a revitalizing effect on many research fields, but none more so than paleobio-geography, the study of the factors controlling the distribution of fossil organisms.
1855Street Brick & Marble xii. 264 The tracery commonly called *plate tracery..only calls attention to the piercings here and there in the large block of stone or marble. 1875Parker Gloss. Archit. s.v. Plate, Plate tracery is..that kind of solid tracery which appears as if formed by piercing a flat surface with ornamental patterns. 1876Gwilt Archit. iii. iii. 958 The only tracery which can be properly executed in brick is in fact the simplest plate tracery.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 547 The bars or plates of metal of which railways and *plate-ways are composed. 1882Society 28 Oct. 8/2 Liverpool..is for constructing a special and novel form of a road called a ‘plateway’, along which lorries and ordinary carts may be drawn in a string by a traction engine or by horses.
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 275 The axis of the *plate-wheel lies in a curvilinear slot. 1884W. S. B. McLaren Spinning (ed. 2) 139 The bottom cone is in gear..with the main wheel of the differential motion called the ‘crown wheel’, or sometimes the ‘plate wheel’.
1670Canterb. Marriage Licences (MS.), Samuel Kannon, civitatis Cant', *plateworker. 1773in Reliquary Jan. 26 An Account of the Number of Goldsmiths, Silversmiths, and Plateworkers,..within the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 1906Athenæum 20 Jan. 70/3 The Wire-workers, who were closely associated, if not indeed identical, with the Plate-workers, appear to have remained..a branch of the Girdlers' Company at least as late as..1685.
▪ II. plate, v.|pleɪt|
[f. plate n., or (?) a. OF. plater to plate (Godef.).
Late OE. had app. a vb. platian to make into thin plates (cf. sense 3), evidenced by the vbl. n. platung and pa. pple. aplated (gold) beaten into thin plate; derived from late L. or early med.L. platum (sc. aurum) gold in thin plate; but this has app. no historical connexion with plated in Chaucer.
a1000Aldhelm Gloss. (Napier) 450 Obrizum, aplatad. Ibid. 2118 Obrizo, aplatedum. Ibid. 3534 Obrizum, .i. aurum optimi coloris, smæte gold, platum. a1000Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 196/24 Brateolis, laminis, platungum.]
1. trans.
a. To cover or overlay with plates of metal, for ornament, protection, or strength; in late use, to cover (ships, locomotives, etc.) with armour-plates.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 255 Flore and roof and alle Was plated half a foote thikke Of gold. 1533Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scotl. VI. 81 Ane harnes doublat, platit upoun the gardeis. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. (1623) 60 The Rivers plated with silver streames..may much cheere and glad thy heart. 1776G. Semple Building in Water 95 They are to be dovetailed and plaited with half flat Bar-iron. 1862W. H. Russell in Times 27 Mar., Paddlewheel merchant steamers which have been plated. 1889Henty With Lee in Virginia (1890) 128 The Merrimac, a steamer which the Confederates had plated with railway iron.
b. Surg. To treat (a fracture) by fixing a metal plate to both the fractured parts so as to hold them together; to attach a plate to (a bone).
1910Brit. Med. Jrnl. 8 Oct. 1064/2 It ..did the progress of surgery a disservice to suggest that to plate a fracture was a matter lightly to be undertaken. 1948[see fixation 3 c]. 1959A. G. Apley Syst. Orthopaedics & Fractures xi. 110 When a fracture has been plated, the technique of ‘delayed splintage’ is of great value. Ibid. xxi. 256 If closed reduction of a radius and ulna has failed.. the bones should..be plated.
2. a. To cover with a thin coating or film of metal; esp. to cover articles made of the baser metals with gold or silver; also iron with tin. Also fig.
a1704T. Brown Sat. Quack Wks. 1730 I. 63 The beast was thinly plated with the man. 1706Phillips, To Plate, to cover with a thin Plate of Gold, or Silver; as To Plate Brass-Money. 1760H. Walpole Let. to G. Montagu 1 Sept., One man there [at Sheffield] has discovered the art of plating copper with silver. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 999 In plating copper wire, the silver is first formed into a tubular shape. 1855Mechanics Mag. 7 July 4/1 A patent has recently been obtained..for an improved process for plating or coating lead, iron, or other metals with tin, nickel, or alumina. 1879Froude Cæsar x. 111 The oars of the galleys of their [buccaneers'] commanders were plated with silver. 1919Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. IV. 255 A lead anode is employed when plating with lead. 1929Ibid. XIV. 322 Automobile parts..to be plated with nickel or chromium. 1940A. Morgan Things a Boy can do with Electrochem. xii. 177 It is an easy matter to plate iron, steel, and brass articles with copper or nickel. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. IV. 531/2 Chromium plating is conducted from solutions containing chromic acid and sulfuric acid... For irregular shapes, auxiliary anodes must be used to plate the surface completely. 1968Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. LIII. 68 Smith and Lewis..successfully plated toughened polystyrene.
b. with on, upon, and construction reversed. Also, to deposit as a coating, esp. electrolytically.
1790Keir in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 367 Among the manufactures at Birmingham, that of making vessels of silver plated on copper is a very considerable one. 1878Gladstone Prim. Homer 134 We are told of the rare artificer, instructed by Hephaistos and Athenè, who plated gold upon silver, and so produced beautiful works. 1919Rep. Progr. Appl. Chem. IV. 255 Nickel can be plated directly on aluminium. 1947Electronic Engin. XIX. 161/3 The chemical reduction method of plating nickel on steel is too expensive to replace electrodeposition. 1959T. M. Rogers Hand-bk. Pract. Electroplating 218 Nickel is normally plated from an acid solution. 1972I. Asimov Asimov's Guide to Science (1975) I. v. 291 Attempting to plate a silicon layer on a platinum surface... The expected plating did not occur. 1979Sci. Amer. May 71 (Advt.), Man has been plating chromium for over a century.
3. To make or beat (metal) into plates. rare—0.
1706Phillips, Plate,..to bring any Metal into Plates or thin Pieces. 1755in Johnson; and in mod. Dicts.
4. To make a stereotype or electrotype plate of (type) for printing. Cf. plate n. 6 c.
a1907Mod. Page 227 has been plated and the type distributed.
5. To shoe (a horse) with plates (plate n. 9).
1674Rutland MSS. (1905) IV. 551 Francis Smith's charges at Lenton, for plateing Robin, 1s. 1755J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) II. 440 We shall accurately search into..the true manner of plating horses, and of jockying, at these celebrated places. 1840–70D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports (ed. 3) §1237 Plate such horses as may have good sound feet..the evening prior to their running.
6. Biol. and Med. To inoculate (cells or infective material) into or on to a plate (plate n. 19 e), esp. with the object of purifying a particular strain or estimating viable cell numbers. Freq. with out.
1892A. C. Abbott Princ. Bacteriol. xviii. 181 Again, 0·25 c.c. of this dilution is plated and we find 180 colonies on the plate. 1901Jrnl. Hygiene I. 202 In order to isolate the organisms, one c.c. of each of the liquid stools was diluted 1–10,000 and 1–100,000 with distilled water, and 1/10 c.c., 1/4 c.c., and ½ c.c. of these dilutions were plated out in gelatine. 1905Ibid. V. 342 The resulting cultures were plated and re-plated to ensure pure growths. 1930[see broth n. 1 c]. 1971Nature 10 Sept. 121/1 When these strains were plated on various drug agar plates..we obtained the growth pattern given in Table 1. 1972Ibid. 18 Feb. 368/2 Rat lymph node cells are plated out onto mouse fibroblast monolayers in vitro.
7. To examine or test the distribution of shot from (a shot-gun) by firing at a pattern plate set at a suitable distance.
1904Kynoch Jrnl. Oct.–Dec. 189 You can plate your gun with your favourite charge. 1932G. Burrard Mod. Shotgun III. 80 No record of such a thing has ever been noted on any pattern plate since the plating of guns first began.
8. To provide (a book) with a book-plate.
1906[see plating vbl. n. 1 g]. 1930Publishers' Weekly 1 Mar. 1095/2 After the latter book had been punched and plated, one of our catalogers discovered that..it was an exact duplicate of the former. 1941Amer. Speech XVI. 311 Verbs are made from nouns, for instance to plate.., to furnish with bookplates.
9. trans. and intr. To practise fellatio or cunnilingus (on). slang.
1961Partridge Dict. Underworld Add. 807/1 Plate, v. This and french, go down, nosh, are prostitutes' (esp. London) verbs, both transitive and, less commonly, intransitive, for ‘to gamâruche’ a man: C. 20. 1969Fabian & Byrne Groupie i. 10, I wondered whether I should plate him. I hadn't done much of that, but I knew guys on the scene liked it because Nigel had told me so. 1969B. Patten Notes to Hurrying Man 27 Guitarist from Mike's group Taught her how to plate correctly. 1971J. Mandelkau Buttons vii. 99 The various chapter prospects were showing everyone how well they could screw and plate her.
10. trans. To provide (a goods vehicle) with a plate recording particulars of weight, etc., according to government regulations.
1968[see plating vbl. n. 1 j]. 1970Times 29 Jan. 26/6 All trailers manufactured before January 1 last year should have been tested and plated by the Ministry within 12 months. 1972[see plating vbl. n. 1 j]. 1976, etc. [see plated a. 6]. 1977‘D. Rutherford’ Return Load ii. 32, I see it's plated at 43·3 tons. That's more than ten in excess of the UK limit.
11. trans. To put on a plate; to serve upon a plate.
1970, etc. [implied in plated a. 5]. 1976Times July 10/6 Dishes are plated in the kitchen, and mistiming is common. 1977Guernsey Weekly Press 21 July 2/8 Mr Nugent said that when the policemen arrived the meals were ready and plated.
▪ III. plate
obs. form of plat n., a., and v. |