pleɪt n. & v. --n. 1 a a
shallow vessel, usu.
circular and of
earthenware or
china,
from which food is eaten or served. b
the contents of
this (ate a plate of sandwiches). 2 a
similar vessel usu. of
metal or
wood, used
esp.
for making a
collection in a
church etc. 3 US a main
course of a meal, served on
one plate. 4
Austral. & NZ a
contribution of cakes, sandwiches,
etc., to a
social gathering. 5 (collect.) a utensils of
silver,
gold, or
other metal. b objects of plated metal. 6 a
piece of metal
with a
name or
inscription for affixing to a
door,
container, etc. 7 an
illustration on
special paper in a
book. 8 a
thin sheet of metal,
glass, etc., coated with a
sensitive film for
photography. 9 a flat thin usu.
rigid sheet of metal etc. with an even
surface and
uniform thickness,
often as
part of a
mechanism. 10 a a
smooth piece of metal etc. for
engraving. b an
impression made from this. 11 a a silver or gold
cup as a prize for a horse-race etc. b a race with this as a prize. 12 a a thin piece of
plastic material, moulded to the
shape of the
mouth and gums, to which
artificial teeth or
another orthodontic
appliance are attached. b colloq. a
complete denture or orthodontic appliance. 13 Geol.
each of
several rigid sheets of rock thought to
form the earth's
outer crust. 14 Biol. a thin flat
organic structure or
formation. 15 a
light shoe for a
racehorse. 16 a
stereotype,
electrotype, or plastic
cast of a page of composed
movable types, or a metal or plastic
copy of
filmset matter, from which sheets are printed. 17 US
Baseball a flat piece of whitened rubber
marking the
station of a batter or pitcher. 18 US the
anode of a
thermionic valve. 19 a
horizontal timber laid along the top of a
wall to
support the ends of joists or rafters (window-plate). --v.tr. 1
apply a thin
coat esp. of silver, gold, or
tin to (another metal). 2
cover (esp. a ship) with plates of metal, esp. for
protection. 3
make a plate of (type etc.) for
printing. øon a plate colloq.
available with
little trouble to the
recipient. on one's plate for one to deal with or
consider. plate
armour armour of metal plates, for a
man,
ship, etc. plate glass
thick fine-quality glass for
shop windows etc., orig. cast in plates. plate-rack
Brit. a rack in which plates are placed to
drain. plate
tectonics Geol. the
study of the earth's surface based on the
concept of
moving 'plates' (see
sense 13 of n.) forming
its structure. plate
tracery Archit. tracery with perforations in
otherwise continuous stone. øøplateful n. (pl. -fuls). plateless adj. plater n. [ME f. OF f. med.L plata plate armour f. platus (adj.) ult. f. Gk platus flat]