plate

Noun

plate (plural plates)

2. A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.

   I filled my plate from the bountiful table.

3. (uncountable) Such dishes collectively.
4. The contents of such a dish.

   I ate a plate of beans.

5. A course at a meal.

   The meat plate was particularly tasty.

6. (figuratively) An agenda of tasks, problems, or responsibilities

   With revenues down and transfer payments up, the legislature has a full plate.

7. A flat object of uniform thickness.

   The most important and most expensive part of any solar cell is a silicon plate.

8. (especially Australia; metonymically, plural only) Vehicle license plates, registration plates.

   Synonym: rego plates (Australia)

   He stole a car and changed the plates as soon as he could.

9. A taxi permit, especially of a metal disc.
10. (historical) Plate armor.

    He was confronted by two knights in full plate.

    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 248:

      He hewd, and lasht, and foynd, and thondred blowes,
      And euery way did seeke into his life,
      Ne plate, ne male could ward so mighty throwes,
      But yeilded passage to his cruell knife.

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 366-368:

      Two potent Thrones, that to be less then Gods
      Disdain’d, but meaner thoughts learnd in thir flight,
      Mangl’d with gastly wounds through Plate and Maile.

11. A layer of a material on the surface of something, usually qualified by the type of the material; plating

    The bullets just bounced off the steel plate on its hull.

12. A material covered with such a layer.

    If you're not careful, someone will sell you silverware that's really only silver plate.

13. (dated) An ornamental or food service item coated with silver or gold or otherwise decorated.

    The tea was served in the plate.

    • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.i:

      The silver ore of pure Charity is an expensive article in the catalogue of a man's good Qualities—whereas the sentimental French Plate I use instead of it makes just as good a shew—and pays no tax.

14. (weightlifting) A weighted disk, usually of metal, with a hole in the center for use with a barbell, dumbbell, or exercise machine.
15. (printing) An engraved surface used to transfer an image to paper.

    We finished making the plates this morning.

16. (printing, photography) An image or copy.
17. (printing, publishing) An illustration in a book, either black and white, or colour, usually on a page of paper of different quality from the text pages.
18. (dentistry) A shaped and fitted surface, usually ceramic or metal that fits into the mouth and in which teeth are implanted; a dental plate.
19. (construction) A horizontal framing member at the top or bottom of a group of vertical studs.
20. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person's foot.

    Sit down and give your plates a rest.

21. (baseball) Home plate.

    There was a close play at the plate.

22. (geology) A tectonic plate.
    • 2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

      Our planet's crust is split into eight major plates and many minor plates.

23. (herpetology) Any of various larger scales found in some reptiles.
24. (engineering, electricity) A flat electrode such as can be found in an accumulator battery, or in an electrolysis tank.
25. (engineering, electricity) The anode of a vacuum tube.

    Regulating the oscillator plate voltage greatly improves the keying.

26. A prize given to the winner in a contest.
27. (chemistry) Any flat piece of material such as coated glass or plastic.
28. (aviation, travel industry, dated) A metallic card, used to imprint tickets with an airline's logo, name, and numeric code.
29. (aviation, travel industry, by extension) The ability of a travel agent to issue tickets on behalf of a particular airline.
30. (Australia) A VIN plate, particularly with regard to the car's year of manufacture.
31. One of the thin parts of the brisket of an animal.
32. A very light steel horseshoe for racehorses.
33. (furriers' slang) Skins for fur linings of garments, sewn together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.
34. (hat-making) The fine nap (as of beaver, musquash, etc.) on a hat whose body is made from inferior material.
35. (music) A record, usually vinyl.
36. (military) trauma plate.

    The SAPI plate in his vest protected him from the bullet's impact.

37. (slang, seduction community) Any of the potential romantic or sexual partners with whom a person keeps in touch as part of plate spinning.

    More plates means more dates!

Verb

plate (third-person singular simple present plates, present participle plating, simple past and past participle plated)

1. To cover the surface material of an object with a thin coat of another material, usually a metal.

   This ring is plated with a thin layer of gold.

2. (cooking, photography) To place the various elements of a meal on the diner's plate prior to serving.

   After preparation, the chef will plate the dish.

   • 2011, “HYFR”, in Take Care, performed by Drake ft. Lil Wayne:

     I took her for sushi, she wanted to fuck / So we took it to go, told 'em don't even plate it

3. (baseball) To score a run.

   The single plated the runner from second base.

4. (transitive) To arm or defend with metal plates.
5. (transitive) To beat into thin plates.
6. (aviation, travel industry) To specify which airline a ticket will be issued on behalf of.

   Tickets are normally plated on an itinerary's first international airline.

7. (philately) to categorise stamps based on their position on the original sheet, in order to reconstruct an entire sheet.
8. (philately, particularly with early British stamps) To identify the printing plate used.

Noun

plate (usually uncountable, plural plates)

1. Precious metal, especially silver.
   • 1864, Andrew Forrester, The Female Detective:

     At every meal—and I have heard the meals at Petleighcote were neither abundant nor succulent—enough plate stood upon the table to pay for the feeding of the poor of the whole county for a month

   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, →OCLC:

     At the northern extremity of this chill province the gold plate of the Groans, pranked across the shining black of the long table, smoulders as though it contains fire […]

Noun

plate (plural plates)

1. (obsolete) Silver or gold, in the form of a coin, or less often silver or gold utensils or dishes.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     […] realms and islands were
     As plates dropp’d from his pocket.

2. (heraldry) A roundel of silver or argent.

See also

More information metals, main colours ...

	metals		main colours				less common colours
tincture	or	argent	gules	azure	sable	vert	purpure	tenné	orange	sanguine
depiction
roundel (in parentheses: semé):	bezant (bezanty)	plate (platy)	torteau (tortelly)	hurt (hurty)	pellet (pellety), ogress	pomme	golpe (golpy)	orange (semé of oranges)		guze (semé of guzes)
goutte (noun) / gutty (adj) thereof:	(goutte / gutty) d'or (of gold)	d'eau (of water)	de sang (of blood)	de larmes (of tears)	de poix (of pitch)	d'huile / d'olive (olive oil)
	special roundel	furs								additional, uncommon tinctures:
tincture	fountain, syke: barry wavy argent and azure	ermine	ermines, counter-ermine	erminois	pean	vair	counter-vair	potent	counter-potent	bleu celeste, brunâtre, carnation, cendrée (iron, steel, acier), copper, murrey
depiction

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Adjective

plate

1. feminine singular of plat

Noun

plate f (plural plates)

1. very small flat boat

Adjective

plate (plural plates) (Canada, informal)

1. boring
   • 1999, Chrystine Brouillet, Les Fiancées de l'Enfer, →ISBN, page 204:

     On va se mettre à ressembler aux gens qui racontent leur crisse de vie plate dans les émissions de télé débiles.

     We're going to sound like those people who tell their frickin' boring lives on those idiotic tv shows.

2. Annoying or disappointing

   C’est plate de ne pas pouvoir y aller.

   It's too bad that we can't go.

Further reading

• “plate”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Noun

plate f (plural plates)

1. (heraldry) plate, roundel argent

See also

More information disque de métal (besant), disque d'émail (tourteau) ...

	disque de métal (besant)		disque d'émail (tourteau)						autre
couleur	or	argent	gueules	azur	sable	sinople	pourpre	orangé	d'argent entouré d'un anneau de sable
nom	besant	plate	guse, buse	heurte	ogoesse	pomme, somme, volet	gulpe	orange	œil de faucon

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Declension

Synonyms

• dēlis
• plāksne
• plātne
• (computing) drukātās shēmas plate
• (computing) shēmas plate

Synonyms

• (flat object): skive

Derived terms

• kokeplate
• plateselskap

Synonyms

• (flat object): skive

Derived terms

• kokeplate
• plateselskap

Descendants

• → Middle English:
  • English: plate
    • → Maori: pereti
    • → Hindi: प्लेट (pleṭ)
  • Scots: plate
• → Irish: pláta