plate /plāt/ noun- A shallow dish of any of various sizes according to purpose, eg dessert plate, dinner plate, side plate
- A plateful
- A portion served on a plate
- A sheet, slab, or lamina of metal or other hard material, usu flat or flattish
- Metal in the form of sheets
- A broad piece of armour
- A scute or separate portion of an animal's shell
- A broad thin piece of a structure or mechanism
- A plate-like section of the earth's crust, involved in plate tectonics (see below)
- A piece of metal, wood, etc, bearing or to bear an inscription to be affixed to anything
- An engraved piece of metal for printing from
- An impression printed from it, an engraving
- An illustration in a book, esp a whole-page one separately printed and inserted
- A mould from type, etc, for printing from, as an electrotype or stereotype
- Part of a denture fitting the mouth and carrying the teeth
- The whole denture
- A device worn in the mouth by some children in order to straighten the teeth
- A film-coated sheet of glass or other material to photograph on
- A plate rail (see below)
- A horizontal supporting timber in building
- A five-sided white slab at the home base (baseball)
- A light racing horseshoe
- A thermionic valve anode (orig flat)
- Precious metal, esp silver (historical; Sp plata silver)
- A silver coin (Shakespeare)
- Wrought gold or silver
- Household utensils in gold or silver
- Table utensils generally
- Plated ware such as Sheffield plate, a silver-plated copper ware
- A cup or other prize for a race or other contest
- A race or contest for such a prize
- A church collection
- (in pl) the feet (slang; orig rhyming slang for plates of meat)
transitive verb- To overlay with metal
- To armour with metal
- To cover with a thin film of another metal
- To put (food) onto a plate in preparation for eating
- To make a printing plate of
ORIGIN: OFr plate, fem (and for the dish plat, masc), flat, from Gr platys broad plaˈted adjective - Covered with plates of metal
- Covered with a coating of another metal, esp gold or silver
- Armoured with hard scales or bone (zoology)
plateˈful noun As much as a plate will hold plateˈlet noun A minute particle in blood, concerned in clotting plateˈ-like adjective plāˈter noun - A person who or something which plates
- A moderate horse entered for a minor, esp a selling, race
plāˈting noun plāˈty adjective - Plate-like
- Separating into plates
plate armour noun Protective armour of metal plates plateˈ-basket noun A basket for forks, spoons, etc plateˈ-fleet noun (historical) Ships that carried American silver to Spain plate glass noun A fine kind of glass used for mirrors and shop-windows, orig poured in a molten state on an iron plate plateˈ-glass adjective - Made with or consisting of plate glass
- (of a building) having large plate-glass windows, appearing to be built entirely of plate glass
- (hence) used of any very modern building or institution, esp British universities founded in the mid-20c
plateˈlayer noun A person who lays, fixes, and attends to the rails of a railway plateˈ-leather noun A chamois leather for rubbing gold and silver plateˈmaker noun A person or machine that makes printing plates plateˈman noun A man who has the care of silver plate in a hotel, club, etc plateˈmark noun A hallmark plateˈ-powder noun A polishing powder for silver plateˈ-printˈing noun The process of printing from engraved plates plateˈ-proof noun A proof taken from a plate plate rack noun A frame for holding plates, etc, when not in use or when draining after washing plate rail noun On early railways, a flat rail with an outer flange plateˈ-room noun A room where silver-plated goods or printing plates are kept plateˈ-ship noun (historical) A ship bringing silver to Spain from the Americas plate tectonics singular noun (geology) - The interacting movements of the rigid plates or sections that make up the earth's crust, floating on the semi-molten rock of the interior
- The science or study of these movements
- The study of the crust in terms of this theory
plateˈ-warmer noun An apparatus for warming dinner plates or keeping them warm halfˈ-plate (in photography) a size of plate measuring 43/4 by 61/2 inches (41/4 by 51/2 in the USA) hand or give (someone something) on a plate (figurative) To cause or allow (someone) to achieve or obtain (something) without the least effort on one's plate (figurative) In front of one, waiting to be dealt with quarˈter-plate (in photography) a plate size 31/4 by 41/4 inches step up to the plate To accept a burden or responsibility wholeˈ-plate (in photography) a plate size 61/2 by 81/2 inches |