Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - plane

(planes, planing, planed) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A plane is a vehicle with wings and one or more engines, which can fly through the air. He had plenty of time to catch his plane... Her mother was killed in a plane crash. ...fighter planes. = aeroplane, airplane N-COUNT 2. A plane is a flat, level surface which may be sloping at a particular angle. ...a building with angled planes. N-COUNT 3. If a number of points are in the same plane, one line or one flat surface could pass through them all. All the planets orbit the Sun in roughly the same plane, round its equator. N-SING 4. A plane is a tool that has a flat bottom with a sharp blade in it. You move the plane over a piece of wood in order to remove thin pieces of its surface. N-COUNT 5. If you plane a piece of wood, you make it smaller or smoother by using a plane. She watches him plane the surface of a walnut board... Again I planed the surface flush. VERB: V n, V n adj 6. A plane or a plane tree is a large tree with broad leaves which often grows in towns. N-COUNT