plane Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets
    airplane; aeroplane.
    • the flight was delayed due to trouble with the airplane
  2. noun (mathematics) an unbounded two-dimensional shape
    sheet.
    • we will refer to the plane of the graph as the X-Y plane
    • any line joining two points on a plane lies wholly on that plane
  3. noun a level of existence or development
    • he lived on a worldly plane
  4. noun a power tool for smoothing or shaping wood
    planing machine; planer.
  5. noun a carpenter's hand tool with an adjustable blade for smoothing or shaping wood
    carpenter's plane; woodworking plane.
    • the cabinetmaker used a plane for the finish work
  6. verb cut or remove with or as if with a plane
    shave.
    • The machine shaved off fine layers from the piece of wood
  7. verb travel on the surface of water
    skim.
  8. verb make even or smooth, with or as with a carpenter's plane
    • plane the top of the door
  9. adjective satellite having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another
    flat; level.
    • a flat desk
    • acres of level farmland
    • a plane surface
    • skirts sewn with fine flat seams

WordNet

Plane noun
Etymology
F., fr. L. platanus, Gr. , fr. broad; -- so called on account of its broad leaves and spreading form. See Place, and cf. Platane, Plantain the tree.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) Any tree of the genus Platanus. ✍ The Oriental plane (Platanus orientalis) is a native of Asia. It rises with a straight, smooth, branching stem to a great height, with palmated leaves, and long pendulous peduncles, sustaining several heads of small close-sitting flowers. The seeds are downy, and collected into round, rough, hard balls. The Occidental plane (Platanus occidentalis), which grows to a great height, is a native of North America, where it is popularly called sycamore, buttonwood, and buttonball, names also applied to the California species (Platanus racemosa).
Plane adjective
Etymology
L. planus: cf. F. plan. See Plan, a.
Definitions
  1. Without elevations or depressions; even; level; flat; lying in, or constituting, a plane; as, a plane surface. ✍ In science, this word (instead of plain) is almost exclusively used to designate a flat or level surface.
Plane noun
Etymology
F. plane, L. plana. See Plane, v. & a.
Definitions
  1. (Geom.) A surface, real or imaginary, in which, if any two points are taken, the straight line which joins them lies wholly in that surface; or a surface, any section of which by a like surface is a straight line; a surface without curvature.
  2. (Astron.) An ideal surface, conceived as coinciding with, or containing, some designated astronomical line, circle, or other curve; as, the plane of an orbit; the plane of the ecliptic, or of the equator.
  3. (Mech.) A block or plate having a perfectly flat surface, used as a standard of flatness; a surface plate.
  4. (Joinery) A tool for smoothing boards or other surfaces of wood, for forming moldings, etc. It consists of a smooth-soled stock, usually of wood, from the under side or face of which projects slightly the steel cutting edge of a chisel, called the iron, which inclines backward, with an apperture in front for the escape of shavings; as, the jack plane; the smoothing plane; the molding plane, etc.
Plane transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F. planer, L. planare, fr. planus. See Plane, a., Plain, a., and cf. Planish.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Planed ; present participle & verbal noun Planing
Definitions
  1. To make smooth; to level; to pare off the inequalities of the surface of, as of a board or other piece of wood, by the use of a plane; as, to plane a plank.
  2. To efface or remove.
    He planed away the names . . . written on his tables. Chaucer.
  3. Figuratively, to make plain or smooth. R.
    What student came but that you planed her path. Tennyson.

Webster 1913