plate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score
    home; home base; home plate.
    • he ruled that the runner failed to touch home
  2. noun a sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic
  3. noun a full-page illustration (usually on slick paper)
  4. noun dish on which food is served or from which food is eaten
  5. noun the quantity contained in a plate
    plateful.
  6. noun a rigid layer of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly
    crustal plate.
  7. noun the thin under portion of the forequarter
  8. noun a main course served on a plate
    • a vegetable plate
    • the blue plate special
  9. noun any flat platelike body structure or part
  10. noun the positively charged electrode in a vacuum tube
  11. noun a flat sheet of metal or glass on which a photographic image can be recorded
    photographic plate.
  12. noun structural member consisting of a horizontal beam that provides bearing and anchorage
  13. noun a shallow receptacle for collection in church
    collection plate.
  14. noun a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners)
    shell; scale.
  15. noun a dental appliance that artificially replaces missing teeth
    denture; dental plate.
  16. verb coat with a layer of metal
    • plate spoons with silver

WordNet

Plate noun
Etymology
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, n.
Definitions
  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 genuine silver or gold.
  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. ✍ 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.
Plate transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Plated; present participle & verbal noun Plating
Definitions
  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 laminæ.
  5. To calender; as, to plate paper.

Webster 1913