a perforated circular metal plate that can be attached to the headstock of a lathe in order to hold flat or irregularly shaped workpieces
2. Also called: surface plate
a flat rigid plate used to check the flatness and squareness of the faces of a component
3.
the part of a cathode-ray tube carrying the phosphor screen
surface plate in American English
noun
Machinery
a flat plate used by machinists for testing surfaces that are to be made perfectly flat
Also called: planometer
Word origin
[1840–50]This word is first recorded in the period 1840–50. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: dope, flan, layout, striation, warmup