4 definitions found From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]: Plate \Plate\, noun [OF. plate a plate of metal, a cuirsas, F. plat a plate, a shallow vessel of silver, other metal, or earth, fr. plat flat, Gr. ?. See {Place}, noun] 1. A flat, or nearly flat, piece of metal, the thickness of which is small in comparison with the other dimensions; a thick sheet of metal; as, a steel plate. 2. Metallic armor composed of broad pieces. Mangled . . . through plate and mail. --Milton. 3. Domestic vessels and utensils, as flagons, dishes, cups, etc., wrought in gold or silver. 4. Metallic ware which is plated, in distinction from that which is silver or gold throughout. 5. A small, shallow, and usually circular, vessel of metal or wood, or of earth glazed and baked, from which food is eaten at table. 6. [Cf. Sp. plata silver.] A piece of money, usually silver money. [Obs.] ''Realms and islands were as plates dropp'd from his pocket.'' --Shak. 7. A piece of metal on which anything is engraved for the purpose of being printed; hence, an impression from the engraved metal; as, a book illustrated with plates; a fashion plate. 8. A page of stereotype, electrotype, or the like, for printing from; as, publisher's plates. 9. That part of an artificial set of teeth which fits to the mouth, and holds the teeth in place. It may be of gold, platinum, silver, rubber, celluloid, etc. 10. (Arch.) A horizontal timber laid upon a wall, or upon corbels projecting from a wall, and supporting the ends of other timbers; also used specifically of the roof plate which supports the ends of the roof trusses or, in simple work, the feet of the rafters. 11. (Her.) A roundel of silver or tinctured argent. 12. (Photog.) A sheet of glass, porcelain, metal, etc., with a coating that is sensitive to light. 13. A prize giving to the winner in a contest. 14. (Baseball) A small five-sided area (enveloping a diamond-shaped area one foot square) beside which the batter stands and which must be touched by some part of a player on completing a run; -- called also {home base}, or {home plate}. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 15. One of the thin parts of the bricket of an animal. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 16. A very light steel racing horsehoe. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 17. Loosely, a sporting contest for a prize; specif., in horse racing, a race for a prize, the contestants not making a stake. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 18. Skins for fur linings of garments, sewed together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted. [Furrier's Cant] [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 19. (Hat Making) The fine nap (as of beaver, hare's wool, musquash, nutria, or English black wool) on a hat the body of which is of an inferior substance. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] 20. a quantity sufficient to fill a plate; a {plateful}; a dish containing that quantity; a plate of spaghetti. [PJC] 21. the food and service supplied to a customer at a restaurant; as, the turkey dinner is $9 a plate; I'll have a plate of spaghetti. [PJC] 22. a flat dish of glass or plastic with a fitted cover, used for culturing microorganisms in a laboratory. [PJC] 23. the identification tag required to be displayed on the outside of a vehicle; same as {license plate}; -- often used in the plural. [PJC] 24. an agenda or schedule of tasks to be performed; I have a lot on my plate today. [colloq.] [PJC] Note: Plate is sometimes used in an adjectival sense or in combination, the phrase or compound being in most cases of obvious signification; as, plate basket or plate-basket, plate rack or plate-rack. {Home plate}. (Baseball) See {Home base}, under {Home}. {Plate armor}. (a) See {Plate}, noun, 2. (b) Strong metal plates for protecting war vessels, fortifications, and the like. {Plate bone}, the shoulder blade, or scapula. {Plate girder}, a girder, the web of which is formed of a single vertical plate, or of a series of such plates riveted together. {Plate glass}. See under {Glass}. {Plate iron}, wrought iron plates. {Plate layer}, a workman who lays down the rails of a railway and fixes them to the sleepers or ties. {Plate mark}, a special mark or emblematic figure stamped upon gold or silver plate, to indicate the place of manufacture, the degree of purity, and the like; thus, the local mark for London is a lion. {Plate paper}, a heavy spongy paper, for printing from engraved plates. --Fairholt. {Plate press}, a press with a flat carriage and a roller, -- used for printing from engraved steel or copper plates. {Plate printer}, one who prints from engraved plates. {Plate printing}, the act or process of printing from an engraved plate or plates. {Plate tracery}. (Arch.) See under {Tracery}. {Plate wheel} (Mech.), a wheel, the rim and hub of which are connected by a continuous plate of metal, instead of by arms or spokes. From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]: Plate \Plate\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Plated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Plating}.] 1. To cover or overlay with gold, silver, or other metals, either by a mechanical process, as hammering, or by a chemical process, as electrotyping. 2. To cover or overlay with plates of metal; to arm with metal for defense. Thus plated in habiliments of war. --Shak. 3. To adorn with plated metal; as, a plated harness. 4. To beat into thin, flat pieces, or lamin[ae]. 5. To calender; as, to plate paper. From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]: plate noun 1: a sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic 2: (baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score; "he ruled that the runner failed to touch home" [syn: {home plate}, {home base}, {home}] 3: a full-page illustration (usually on slick paper) 4: dish on which food is served or from which food is eaten 5: the quantity contained in a plate [syn: {plateful}] 6: a rigid layer of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly [syn: {crustal plate}] 7: the thin under portion of the forequarter 8: a main course served on a plate; "a vegetable plate"; "the blue plate special" 9: any flat platelike body structure or part 10: the positively charged electrode in a vacuum tube 11: a flat sheet of metal or glass on which a photographic image can be recorded [syn: {photographic plate}] 12: structural member consisting of a horizontal beam that provides bearing and anchorage 13: a shallow receptacle for collection in church [syn: {collection plate}] 14: a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners) [syn: {scale}, {shell}] 15: a dental appliance that artificially replaces missing teeth [syn: {denture}, {dental plate}] 16: the position on a baseball team of the player who is stationed behind home plate and who catches the balls that the pitcher throws; "a catcher needs a lot of protective equipment"; "he plays behind the plate" [syn: {catcher}] verb: coat with a layer of metal; "plate spoons with silver" From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]: 213 Moby Thesaurus words for "plate": Chateaubriand, alveolar ridge, anodized aluminum, antepast, armor, backing, bibliofilm, billhead, bipack, black-and-white film, blade roast, book stamp, bookplate, brand, breast, bridgework, brisket, broad arrow, cachet, cartridge, charger, check, chitin, chromium plate, chromium-plate, chuck, chuck roast, clod, coat, coating, cold cuts, collop, colophon, color film, color negative film, copperplate, cortex, counterfoil, countermark, course, cover, covering, cut, deal, dental bridge, dentition, denture, dessert, dish, disk, docket, dope, dry plate, duplicate plate, electrocoating, electroplate, electroplating, electrotype, elytron, emulsion, entree, entremets, episperm, face, false teeth, feuille, filet mignon, film, flank, flap, foil, fold, frame, galvanize, gold plate, government mark, government stamp, gums, hallmark, help, helping, illustration, imprint, ivories, knuckle, label, lamella, lamina, laminate, laminated glass, laminated wood, lamination, lap, layer, leaf, letterhead, locked-up page, logo, logotype, loin, lorica, lorication, mail, masthead, membrane, microfilm, monochromatic film, motion-picture film, negative, nickel plate, orthochromatic film, overlay, pack, panchromatic film, pane, panel, patina, peel, pellicle, pericarp, periodontal tissue, photographic paper, picture, place, plait, plank, plastic plate, plate piece, plating, platter, ply, plywood, portion, pot roast, price tag, print, printing paper, printing plate, printing surface, protective covering, rack, rasher, registered trademark, rib roast, ribs, roast, roll, rolled roast, round, rubber plate, rump, rump roast, running head, running title, saddle, safety glass, scum, scute, scutum, seal, second helping, service, serving, set of teeth, shank, sheet, shell, shield, short ribs, shoulder, shoulder clod, sigil, signet, silver plate, sirloin, skin, slab, slat, slice, sound film, sound track, sound-on-film, soundstripe, stamp, steel plate, stereotype, sticker, stone, stub, table, tablet, tag, tally, teeth, tenderloin, test, testa, thick skin, ticket, title page, token, trade name, trademark, trademark name, trencher, tripack, typeform, uppers and lowers, vehicle, veneer, wafer, zincograph, zincotype

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